I 


THE  ROBERT  E.  COWAN  COLLECTION 

PRESKNTED    TO   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CflLIFORNIR 

i;v 

C,  p.  HUNTINGTON 

cJUNE,   1897, 

Recession  No  7<^  /^/        ^^^^^  ^^• 


)^^t^' 


>'\CL-htCT^€{    fr•<^•v»c{b    |  lov-fcr^vT" 


Historical  Sketches  of 

—THE— 

OatlioliG  GtilircH  ill  Oregoq, 

DURING  THE  PAST  FORTY  YEARS 

PORTLAND,  OREGON: 

18  7  8. 


-jo/ij 


.HISTORICAL    SKETCHES 


OF- 


THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  ffl  OREGON, 

DIRINC;    THE    PAST    FOKTY    YEARS. 


The  history  of  the  Catholic  Church — even  in  the 
most  remote  regions  where  its  benign  influence  is 
felt — possesses  great  interest  not  only  for  those  who 
belong  to  *^the  household  of  faith''  but,  moreover,  to 
every  one  interested  in  the  history  of  civilization  and 
Christianity.  Nations  have  their  religious  historical 
aspect  as  well  as  those  better  known  and  more  studied 
chapters  pertaining  to  secular  advancement,  yet, 
whilst  historians  love  to  record  the  triumphs  which 
mark  the  pathway  of  the  pioneers  of  the  forest,  they 
are  very  reticent  regarding  the  labor,  the  trials  and 
the  heroism  displayed  by  the  pioneers  of  the  cross. 
Yet  these  heroes  of  heaven-born  Faith — armed  with 
no  weapon  save  the  sign  of  man's  redemption,  and 
bearing  aloft  the  oriflamme  of  Christianity — penetrate 
into  the  remotest  recesses  of  the  earth,  guided  by  the 
unerring  voice  of  God  who  calls  them  to  take  up 
their  Cross,  and  follow  Him,  until  His  precepts  be- 


6  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

come  known  throughout  the  world  even  '^from  the 
rising  of  the  sun  until  the  going  down  of  the  same/' 

It  is  our  pleasant  duty,  then,  to  place  before  our 
readers  a  few  glimpses  of  the  toils  and  trials  which 
the  pioneers  of  the  Cross  endured  in  their  early 
struggles  to  plant  the  seed  of  Christianity  in  the 
great  Northwest,  and  in  doing  so  we  feel  that  eveiy 
Catholic  who  peruses  these  sketches  will  treasure  in 
his  heart  a  grateful  remembrance  for  those  whose 
names  will  be  inscribed  in  the  niche  of  immortality 
so  deservedly  accorded  by  faithful  Catholics  to 
the  apostles  of  the  Cross. 

The  world  has  its  heroes,  but  to  the  missionaries 
of  the  everlasting  gospel  must  be  assigned  a  far  high- 
er glory,  because  they  aie  the  heralds  of  a  King 
whose  footstool  is  the  universe  !  It  is  in  His  service 
that  deeds  of  heroism  are  performed  which  make  all 
worldly  actions  pale  into  utter  insignificance.  The 
reason  is  obvious  :  the  hero  of  the  world  displays  his 
valor  for  earthly  glory  alone,  whilst  the  missionary 
of  the  Cross  is  animated  by  the  highest  and  holiest 
aspirations  that  can  illumine  the  soul — the  hope  of 
enjoying  with  God  the  eternal  reward  promised  to 
those  who  scatter  the  seeds  of  Faith  among  the  tribes 
and  people  who  are  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  God. 

This,  then,  was  the  high  and  ennobling  mission  in 
which  the  pioneers  of  the  Cross  in  Oregon  engaged 
when  they  undertook  to  cross  the  almost  trackless 
plains  which  then  Separated  the  Atlantic  from  the 
Pacific,  and,  as  we  follow  them  through  their  long 
and  arduous  journey,  let  us   not  forget   to   chant  a 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  7 

requiem  over  the  graves  of  those  who  have  passed  to 
their  reward,  whilst  we  accord  to  those  who  are  still 
engaged  in  God's  service  that  homage  so  justly  ac- 
corded to  venerable  age,  holiness  of  office,  and 
sanctity  of  life. 

The  First  Catholics  in  Oregon. 

When  the  renowned  Jesuit  missionary  and  subse- 
quent martyr  to  the  Faith — Father  Isaac  Jogues — 
first  planted  the  seeds  of  faith  among  the  Iroquois 
Indians  on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk,  in  1642,  he 
little  thought  that  the  grain  of  mustard-seed  thus 
sown  would  eventually  grow  up  into  a  great  tree 
whose  branches  would  reach  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific.  But,  when  we  reflect  that  ''the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church,''  we  need  not  w^on- 
der  at  such  a  miraculous  manifestation  of  God's  will, 
and  the  mutilated  hands  and  tortured  limbs  of  that 
suffering  missionary  were  accepted  by  Heaven  as  so 
many  holocausts  offered  up  for  the  propagation  of 
the  Faith  throughout  eveiy  portion  of  the  American 
continent. 

Another  element  of  population  through  whose  pre- 
sence in  Oregon  the  Catholic  creed  was  propagated, 
was  the  Canadian  voyageurs,  large  numbers  of  whom 
were  engaged  to  accompany  the  several  expeditions 
of  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1805,  John  Jacob  Astor  in 
1810,  and  that  of  Capt.  Hunt  in  1811.  In  Astor's 
expedition  there  were  thirteen  Canadians  nearly  all  of 
whom  were  Catholics,  and  many  of  these  pioneers 
afterwards  settled  in  the  Willamette  valley  where  in 
1838,  still  resided  Michel  La   Fromboise,  Ettienne 


8  SKETCHES       OF      THE 

Lucier,  Louis  Labonte  and  Joseph  Gervais.  Capt. 
Hunt's  expedition  having  encountered  great  hard- 
ship on  the  route  across  the  plains,  many  of  the 
members  deserted  from  its  ranks  and  remained  among 
the  Indians,  and  this  fact  will  also  serve  to  account 
for  the  presence  of  a  number  of  Iroquois  Indians 
who  were  found  among  the  Flatheads  in  1816. 
Large  numbers  of  Canadians  and  Iroquois  were  also 
engaged  in  the  service  of  both  the  North  West  Com- 
pany and  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  as'  traders  and 
trappers  at  their  different  stations  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  These  hardy  pioneers  led  a  roaming 
life,  but,  true  to  their  early  education,  amidst  all  the 
scenes  of  savage  life  through  which  they  passed,  they 
never  forgot  their  faith,  but  on  every  occasion  when 
danger  threatened  them  they  sought  the  God  of  sal- 
vation in  prayer.  In  this  manner  the  Indians,  by 
whom  they  were  surrounded,  received  the  first  know- 
ledge of  ''the  white  man's  God,"  and  through  these 
Catholics  they  also  learned  of  the  Blackgown  long 
years  before  they  were  visited  by  a  priest.  To  the 
Canadians  and  Iriquois,  therefore,  is  the  honor  due 
of  opening  the  way  for  the  Catholic  missionary  in 
Oregon. 

The  First  Colonists  in  Oregon. 
In  1824,  Dr.  John  McLaughlin,  chief  Factor  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Co.,  was  appointed  Governor  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Co's.  posts,  with  head-quarters  at  Van- 
couver, Washington  Territory,  where  a  Fort  was 
erected  that  year.  He  was  one  of  ''nature's  noble- 
men" in  every  sphere  of  life.  Of  commanding  pres- 
ence, strict  integrity,    sound  judgment,  and  correct 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  V 

principles  of  justice,  no  man  was  better  qualified  for 
the  position  he  occupied  as  the  father  and  friend  of 
both  the  Indians  and  the  whites  who  then  jointly 
occupied  the  Pacific  northwest.  Dr.  McLaughlin 
was  the  arbiter  to  whom  both  whites  and  Indians 
looked  for  the  settlement  of  their  differences,  and  the 
friend  from  whom  they  sought  relief  in  all  their  dif- 
ficulties. His  ashes  rest  beneath  the  shadow  of  the 
Cathedral  cross  in  Oregon  City,  where  he  died  in 
1857.  He  was  originally  a  member  of  the  Anglican  ' 
Church,  but  was  converted  by  Archbishop  Blanchet 
in  1841,  and  was  ever  afterwards  a  most  exemplary 
Catholic — May  his  soul  rest  in  peace. 

Under  the  impartial  supervision  of  this  good  and 
great  man  the  business  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
prospered  amazingly ;  he  perpetuated  peace  be- 
tween the  Indians  and  the  employes  of  the  Company, 
and  established  twenty-eight  trading  posts  during  the 
fourteen  years  he  presided  over  the  destinies  of  the 
Corporation  he  so  ably  represented.  Under  Dr. 
McLaughlin's  direction  a  number  of  the  employes 
of  the  Company  whose  term  of  service  had  expired 
w^ere  supplied  with  provisions  and  farming  utensils 
to  enable  them  to  settle  in  that  portion  of  the  Wil- 
lamette valley  which  has  since  been  known  as  the 
French  Prairie,  and  which  afterwards  became  the  nu- 
cleus of  a  large  and  prosperous  Catholic  settlement. 
He  also  extended  assistance  to  every  immigrant 
whose  necessities  required  it,  and  his  good  deeds 
have  enshrined  his  name  amidst  the  most  honored  of 
the  pioneers  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

In  1834  the  first  wave  of  immiofration  reached  the 

OF  THE 


lO  SKETHCES       OF      THE    ^ 

shores  of  Oregon.  These  comprised  a  number  of 
Methodist  ministers  sent  out  by  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions.  In  1836  a  number  of  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionaries arrived,  and  the  following  year  a  second 
installment  of  Methodist  preachers  were  sent  thither 
in  order  to  help  the  first  under  the  ostensible  pur- 
pose of  securing  souls  for  the  Lord's  vineyard,  but 
in  reality  to  secure  large  tracts  of  land,  large  bands 
of  cattle,  and  to  enlarge  their  numerous  commercial 
speculations.  Again  in  1838  the  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionaries were  re-inforced,  so  that,  prior  to  the 
arrival  of  a  Catholic  missionary  in  Oregon,  the  sects 
were  represented  by  twenty-nine  regular  preachers 
besides  a  numerous  retinue  of  agents,  colporteurs, 
and  other  members — male  and  female.  These  forces 
were  pretty  well  scattered  over  the  country,  the  Me- 
thodists having  establishments  south  of  the  French 
Prairie,  in  Marion  County,  and  also  at  the  Dalles  in 
Wasco  County.  The  Presbyterians  were  located  at 
Wailatpu,  on  the  Walla  Walla  river,  among  a  poif- 
tion  of  the  Cayuse  Indians,  and  also  at  Lapwai,  on 
the  Clearwater.  Besides  these,  Mr.  Beaver  repre- 
sented the  Anglican  Church  at  Vancouver,  as  chap- 
lain of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  so  that  the 
missionary  field  was  well  occupied  prior  to  the  ad- 
vent of  a  Catholic  priest,  and  it  is  well  to  understand 
the  situation  so  that  the  reader  may  better  realize 
the  amount  of  opposition  which  the  pioneer  mission- 
aries of  the  Catholic  Church  had  to  encounter  in 
their  efforts  to  plant  the  Cross  in  Oregon. 

Let  us  now  pause  for  awhile  in  our  career  after  the 
cross-bearers  of  the  west,   whilst  we   learn  from  con- 


CA.THOLIC      CHURCH      m       OREGON.  11 

temporary  evidence  the  manner  in  which  the 
sectarian  missionaries  preached  the  gospel  to  the 
Indians  whom  they  came  to  convert.  The  first 
Protestant  missionaries  left  the  Eastern  states  amidst 
great  eclat,  under  the  impression  that  they  were 
going  to  the  Flathead  Indians  for  the  purpose  of 
having  them  and  all  adjacent  tribes  take  up  the 
bible  as  their  rule  of  faith.  But,  after  a  very  brief 
trial,  these  gentlemen  found  the  situation  not  so  con- 
genial as  they  anticipated,  and  they  abandoned  the 
Flatheads  to  their  perfidious  fate.  Mr.  Townshend, 
whose  work  on  the  Eocky  Mountains  is  our  authority 
on  this  point,  says  that  when  he  travelled  a  few  days 
in  the  company  of  these  ' 'missionaries''  he  soon  dis- 
covered that  their  object  in  going  west  was  not  so 
much  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  Christianity 
among  the  Indians  as  it  was  ''for  the  gratification  of 
seeing  a  new  country  and  participating  in  strange 
adventures."  They  candidly  admitted  to  Mr.  Town- 
shend that  the  means  of  subsistence  in  a  region  so 
remote  and  so  difficult  of  access,  were,  to  say  the 
least,  very  doubtful.  Hence,  as  these  propagan- 
dists of  Protestant  error  could  not  be  assured  of  a 
well-stocked  larder,  they  quietly  "folded  their  tents'' 
and  left  the  Flatheads  in  the  mist  of  that  pagan 
darkness  in  which  tl)ey  found  them  enshrouded. 
Little  did  these  tourists  think  when  they  forsook  the 
poor  Flathead  Indians  that  there  were  those  coming 
after  them  who  would  never  forsake  the  mission 
given  them  from  on  high,  but  who  could  say  with  St. 
Paul:  "Even  unto  this  hour  we  both  hunger  and 
thirst,  and  are  naked,  and  are  buifeted,  and  have  no 


12  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

fixed  abode."  These  are  the  Catholic  missionaries 
whose  labors  once  begun  were  never  abandoned,  and 
whose  efforts  we  shall  find  crowned  with  success  so 
that  the  whole  FMhead  tribe  of  Indians  embraced 
ihe  Catholic  faith  and  are  to-day  among  the  most 
happy  and  prosperous  communities  in  the  entire  re- 
public. 

No  *  'missionaries"  were  ever  despatched  to  repre- 
sent the  various  sects  in  any  land  under  more  favor- 
able auspices  than  were  those  ladies  and  gentlemen 
belonging  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  who 
proffered  their  services  to  leave  their  eastern  homes 
for  the  purpose  of  evangelizing  the  savage  Indians 
amidst  the  '  'wilds"  of  Oregon.  The  history  of  that 
memorable  band  has  been  written  by  two  of  these 
missionaries  in  language  more  truthful  than  com- 
plimentary to  their  companions. 

Daniel  Lee  and  J.  H.  Frost  were  two  of  the  evan- 
gelical eleet  who  were  sent  out  to  ''bring  the  Indians 
to  grace',  and  in  their  work  entitled  "Ten  years  in 
Oregon"  they  give  us  an  unbiassed  insight  into  the 
manner  in  which  the  Master's  service  was  abandoned 
by  these  "missionaries,"  in  order  that  they  might 
enter  into  the  slavery  of  Mammon.  These  gentle- 
men tell  us  that  the  Oregon  mission  involved  an 
expenditure  of  forty-two  thousand  dollars  in  a  single 
year,  and  no  wonder,  when  there  were  sixty-eight 
j)ersons  connected  with  the  "mission"  each  of  them 
represented  by  a  respectable  array  of  figures  on  the 
yearly  pay-roll. 


catholic     church    in     oregon.  13 

Protestant  Missionary  Labors  in  Oregon. 

The  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  and  other  sects, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  were  represented  in  Oregon 
as  early  as  1834  by  a  corps  of  missionaries  sufficient 
in  number — if  they  only  had  a  divine  mission 
to  sustain  them  throughout  their  labors — to  con- 
vert all  the  Indians  from  Arizona  to  Alaska,  but  Dr, 
Stephen  Olin,  L.  L.  D.,  a  Methodist  bishop,  tells  u& 
that  ''very  few  of  the  Indians  came  under  the  influ- 
ence of  their  labor,''  and  adds  this  rather  damaging 
declaration  : — '*The  missionaries  were,  in  fact,  most- 
ly engaged  in  secular  affairs — concerned  in  claims  to 
large  tracts  of  land,  claims  to  city  lots,  farming, 
merchandizing,  blacksmithing,  grazing,  horse-keep- 
ing, lumbering  and  flouring.  We  do  not  believe'^ 
continues  Dr.  Stephen  Olin,  L.  L.  D.  ''that  the 
history  of  Christian  missions  exhibits  another  such 
spectacle.''  The  good  Doctor  was  evidently  amazed 
at  the  transformation  from  missionaries  of  the  gos- 
pel into  land-sharks  and  horse-jockeys.  It  is  no 
wonder,  then,  that  he  tells  us  "the  mission  became 
odious  to  the  growing  population,"  and  he  concludes 
his  evidence  by  asserting  that  "of  all  the  Indians 
who  had  ever  held  relations  of  any  kind  with  these 
men,  none  no%o  remain.''  This  is  not  very  flattering' 
testimony  for  the  success  of  Protestant  propagandists 
coming  fiom  a  Protestant  source,  but  "let  truth  be 
told  though  the  heavens  fall"  was  evidently  a  prac- 
tical maxim  in  the  mind  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Bishop  we  have  quoted.  Nor  need  we  wonder  that 
missionaries  who  traded  in  horse  flesh  and  town  lots 
and  who  had  "cattle   on   a   thousand   hills"   should 


14  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

become  '' odious"  to  the  settlers  around  tliem,  whilst 

the  Indians  instead  of  s.eeking  the  light  of  the  gospel 

as  enunciated  by  these   holy  horse-traders,   sought 

rather  to  retire  to   their   primitive  wigwams   amidst 

the  solitude  of  the  woods 

''where  rolls  the  Oregon 
And  hears  no  sound  save  its  own  dashing/' 

than  to  encounter  a  civilization  the  very  preachers  of 
which  sought  first  the  kingdom  of  this  world,  and 
took  the  chances  of  ''all  things  else"  being  added 
thereto. 

Bev.  G.  C.  Nicolay,  a  minister  of  the  Church  of 
England,  visited  this  country  in  1843  and  has  left 
his  impressions  of  what  he  saw  among  the  mission- 
aries of  the  Willamette  valley  in  a  work  entitled 
**The  Oregon  Territory"  which  we  have  before  us. 
He  was  evidently  unbiassed  in  his  judgment  and 
speaks  his  mind  only  because  his  experience  had  re- 
ceived a  severe  shock  in  the  manner  in  which  he 
found  the  so-called  ''missionaries"  comporting  them- 
selves. Under  the  chapter  devoted  to  "settlers  in 
Oregon"  this   authority   says  with  truth  : — 

''It  seems  but  the  right  and  proper  order  of  things  that 
the  missionary  in  uncivilized  lands  should  be  the  harbinger 
not  only  of  the  blessings  of  the  Christian  religion,  but 
of  civilization  also,  and  therefore  that  he  should  be  followed 
in  his  track  by  the  settler  and  farmer,  the  mechanic  and 
artisan,  who  obtain  as  the  reward  of  their  superior  intelli- 
gence and  knowledge  the  wealth  and  independence  which 
in  their  own  country  their  simple  equality  with  others  could 
not  expect ;  and  this  is  just,  the  benefit  they  confer  is  in- 
calculable :  it  does  not  decrease  its  value  that  others  in 
distant  lands  possess  the  same,  but  rather   increases  it  a 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  15 

I* 

he  means  whereby  they  may  be  raised  to  the  same  emin- 
ence. Now  though  this  is  to  be  expected  and  desired,  it 
has  ever  been  thought  a  just  ground  of  complaint  against 
men  whose  lives  are  devoted  to  the  service  of  God  and  the 
spread  of  his  Gospel,  if  they  let  other  occupations  interfere 
with  that  which  ought  to  be  their  primary  one,  or  seek  to 
make  *a  gain  of  godhness  ;'  and  still  more  if  the  influence 
accorded  to  them,  in  consequence  of  their  important  duty 
and  sacred  office,  be  converted  into  an  engine  for  political 
purposes,  or  they  teach  other  doctrine  with  respect  to  our 
neighbours  than  the  words  of  the  Apostle — ^Follow  peace 
with  all  men.' 

In  reviewing  the  history  of  the  settlers  in  Oregon,  all  this 
will  appear  by  their  own  showing  to  lie  at  the  door  of  the 
American  missionaries  who  have  established  themselves 
there  ;  and  the  necessity  for  drawing  attention  to  it  is  this, 
that  no  satisfactory  account  of  Oregon  could  be  given  with- 
out some  notice  of  the  Wallamette  Settlement,  and  certainly 
no  true  statement  of  affairs  there  can  be  given  without 
these  facts  being  referred  to.  In  their  settlements  at 
Okanagan,  Walla  -  walla,  Cowehtz,  and  Nisqually  this 
charge  is  so  far  true,  that  their  principal  attention,  as  Lieut. 
Wilkes  testifies,  is  devoted  to  agriculture,  but  on  the  Wal- 
lamette they  sink  into  political  agents  and  wouldbe  legisla- 
tors. This  the  history  of  that  settlement  will  sufficiently 
evidence."       ^^^^^-^^^^^ 

^Trom  this  beginning  the  colony  increased,  till,  when 
Lieutenant  Wilkes  visited  it  in  1841,  it  counted  sixty  fam- 
ilies,- who,  he  says,  consisted  of  American  missionaries, 
trappers,  and  Canadians,  who  were  formerly  servants  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company ;  and  that  the  orgin  of  the 
settlement  has  been  fairly  stated,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
conclusion  he  arrived  at  concerning  it.  All  of  them  ap- 
peared to  be  doiag  well ;  but  he  was,  he  says,  'on  the  whole 
disappointed,  from  the  reports  which  had  been  made  tome, 


16  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

3iot  to  find  the  settlement  in  a  greater  state  of  forwardness, 
considering  the  advantages  the  missionaries  have  had  ;' — 
thus  making  the  prosperity  and  advancement  of  the  settle- 
ment depend  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  entirely,  upon 
them  :  but  that  their  missionary  intentions  have  merged  in 
^  great  measure  in  others  more  closely  connected  with  ease 
And  comfort,  is  still  more  plainly  evidenced  by  the  following 
account  given  by  him  of  the  Wesleyan  Mission  there  : 
The  lands  of  the  Methodist  Mission  are  situated  on  the 
banks  of  the  Wallamette  river,  on  a  rich  plain  adjacent  to 
fine  forests  of  oak  and  pine.  They  are  about  eight  miles 
beyond  the  Catholic  Mission,  in  a  southern  direction.  Their 
fields  are  well  enclosed,  and  we  passed  a  large  one  of  wheat 
which  we  understood  was  half  sown  by  the  last  year's  crop 
which  had  been  lost  through  neglect. .  The  crop  so  lost 
amounted  to  nearl3^  a  thousand  bushels,  and  it  is  supposed 
that  this  year's  crop  will  yield  twenty-five  bushels  to  the 
acre.  About  all  the  premises  of  this  mission  there  was  an 
evident  want  of  the  attention  required  to  keep  things  in  re- 
pair, and  an  absence  of  neatness  that  I  regretted  much  to 
witness.  We  had  the  expectation  of  getting  a  sight  of  the 
Indians,  on  whom  they  were  inculcating  good  habits  and 
teaching  the  word  of  God,  but,  with  the  exception  of  four 
Indian  servants,  we  saw  none  since  leaving  the  Catholic 
Mission.  On  inquiring  I  was  informed  that  they  had  a 
school  of  twenty  pupils  some  ten  miles  distant  at  the  mill, 
that  there  were  but  few  adult  Indians  in  the  neighbourhood 
and  that  their  intention  and  principal  hope  was  to  establish 
a  colony,  and  by  their  example  to  induce  white  settlers  to 
locate  near  them,  over  whom  they  trusted  to  exercise  a 
moral  and  religious  influence.'  " 

At  the  mills,  which  were  badly  situated  and  managed,  he 
saw  twenty  lay  members  of  the  Mission  under  the  charge  of 
a  principal,  and  about  twenty-five  Indian  boys,  who,  he 
was  told,  were  not  in  a  condition  to  be  visited  or  inspected. 
They  were  nearly  grown  up,  ragged,  and  half  clothed,  and 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OEEOON.  17 

lounging  about  under  the  trees.  He  might  well  add, 
^ 'Their  appearance  was  anything  but  satisfactory,  and  I 
must  own  I  was  greatly  disappointed,  for  I  had  been  led  to 
expect  that  order  and  neatness  at  least  (he  could  scarce 
have  expected  less)  would  have  been  found  among  them, 
considering  the  strong  force  of  missionaries  engaged  here. 
From  tbe  number  of  persons  about  the  premises  this  little 
spot  w^ore  the  air  and  stir  of  a  new  secular  settlement.  It 
was  intended  to  be  the  home  and  location  of  the  mission, 
and  the  missionaries  had  made  individual  selections  of 
lands  to  the  amount  of  one  thousand  acres  each,  in  pros- 
pect of  the  whole  country  falling  under  the  American 
dominion. 

Holding  these  views,  and  with  such  interests  to  incite 
them,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  these  missionaries  among 
the  first  to  excite  political  changes,  and  to  introduce  the 
consequent  discussions  and  dissensions.' ' 

Such  is  the  character  of  the  work  inaugurated  by 
missionaries  who  left  the  Atlantic  slope  under  the 
hallucination  that  they  w^ere  called  to  preach  salva- 
tion to  those  that  sat  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow 
of  death,  but  whose  trading  prepensities  overcame 
their  religious  zeal,  until  finally  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity was  wrecked  on  the  shoals  of  aggrandisement. 

The  foregoing  extracts,  taken  entirely  from  im- 
partial Protestant  sources,  will  give  the  general  read- 
er a  very  lucid  view  of  the  ' 'severe  trials"  which  the 
early  Protestant  missionaries  underwent  in  their 
so-called  "missionary  labor"  in  Oregon,  but  we  have 
by  no  means  exhausted  the  evidence  extant  on  that 
score,  as  Hon.  Alexander  Simpson,  in  his'  work 
entitled  ''The  Oregon  Territory"  tells  us,  in 
allusion  to  the  Methodist  and  Catholic  missions  in 
the  Willamette  valley,  that  "the  latter  consisted  of 


18  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

about  one  hundred  families,  a  very  regular  congrega- 
tion, ministered  to  by  Mgr.  Blancliet,  a  most  estimable 
and  indefatigable  priest  of  the  Koman  Catholic 
faith/'  whilst  the  Methodist  Mission,  he  adds, 
^'consisted  of  four  families  :  a  clergyman,  a  surgeon, 
a  school-master  and  an  agricultural  overseer/' 
Evidently  the  temporal  welfare  of  the  well-fed 
Protestant  missionaries  was  far  more  important  in 
their  own  estimation  than  any  spiritual  comforts 
which  they  pretended  to  extend  to  the  Indians. 


First  Indian  Missions  in  Oregon. 

Let  us  now  turn  from  scenes  where  the  temxDoral 
overshadows  the  spiritual  interests  to  such  an  extent, 
and  learn  how  eager  the  Indians  were  to  behold  the 
long-expected  Black-Gowns.  This  interesting  his- 
torical fact  is  elaborately  set  forth  in  the  following 
historical  document : — 

I^etter  of  the  Itiglit  Rev.  Joscpli  Ro.sati,  Bigliop  of  >S1.  Louis,  Co 
the  Rig,2it  Rev.  Father  iieueral  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  at 
Rome. 

St.  Louis,  October  20th,  1839. 
My  Eight  Rev.  Father  : 
Twenty-three^  years  ago,  two  Indians  of  the  Iroquois 
mission,  left  their  native  country,  Canada,  with  twenty- two 
other  warriors,  and  went  to  settle  in  a  country  situated  be- 
tween the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific  sea.  That 
country  is  inhabited  by  infidel  nations,  and  especially  by 
those  the  French  call  Tetes  Plattes.  They  married 
there  and  were  incorporated  into  the  Indian  nation.  As 
they  were  well  instructed  in  the  Catholic  religion,  professed 
by  the  Iroquois — converted  by  the  ancient  Fathers  of  your 


"^'It  was  actually  twenty-seven  yeais. — Ed. 


£  OF  THE  ^ 

fi  TTNIVERSITY  \  ,^ 

CITHOLIC   CHURCH  ^N   OREOQX.       J    19 

Society— they  have  continued  to  practice^ it  as^much  as  it 
was  in  their  power,  and  have  taught  it  to  their  wives  and 
children.  Their  zeal  went  even  further  ;  becoming  Ap(»s- 
tles,  they  have  sown  the  first  seeds  of  Catholicity  in  the 
midst  of  the  infidel  nations  among  whom  they  live.  These 
precious  gems  begin  already  to  bring  forth  fruit,  for  they 
have  caused  to  spring  in  the  hearts  of  the  Indians  the  desire 
of  having  Missionaries  who  would  teach  them  the  divine  law. 

Eight  or  nine  years  ago  (about  1830),  some  of  the  Flat- 
head nation  came  to  St.  Louis.  The  object  of  their  journey 
was  to  ascertain  if  the  religion  spoken  of  with  so  much 
praise  by  the  Iroquois  warriors  was  in  reality  such  as  rep- 
resented, and  above  all,  if  the  nations  that  have  white  skin, 
(name  they  give  to  Europeans)  had  adopted  and  practiced 
it.  Soon  after  their  arrival  in  St.  Louis,  they  fell  sick, 
called  for  the  priest  and  earnestly  asked  by  signs  to  be  bap- 
tized. Their  request  was  eagerly  granted  and  they  received 
the  holy  baptism  with  great  devotion  :  then  holding  the 
crucifix,  they  covered  it  with  affectionate  kisses  and  expired. 

Some  years  after  (about  1832);  the  Flathead  nation  sent 
again  one  of  the  Iroquios  to  St.  Louis.  There  he  came  with 
two  of  his  children,  who  were  instructed  and  baptized  by 
the  Fathers  of  the  college.  He  asked  Missionaries  for  his 
countrymen,  and  started  with  the  hope  that  one  day,  the 
desire  of  the  nation  would  be  at  last  accomplished.  But, 
on  his  journey,  he  was  killed  by  the  infidel  Indians  of  the 
Sioux  nation. 

At  last,  a  third  deputation  of  Indians  arrived  at  St.  Louis 
(1839)  after  a  long  voyage  of  three  months.  It  is  composed 
of  two  Christian  Iroquois.  These  Indians  who  talk  French 
have  edified  us  by  their  truly  exemplary  conduct  and  inter- 
ested us  by  their  discourses.  The  Fathers  of  the  college 
have  heard  their  confessions,  and  to-day  they  approached 
the  holy  table  at  my  Mass,  in  the  Cathedral  church.  After- 
wards I  administered  them  the  sacrament  of  Confirmation  ; 
and  in  an  allocution  delivered  after  the  cere^aiony,  I  rejoiced 


20  SKETCHES       OF      THE 

with  them  at  their  happiness  and  gave  them  the  hope  to 
have  soon  a  priest. 

They  will  leave  to-morrow  for  their  home  ;  a  priest  will 
follow  them  next  Spring.  Out  of  the  twenty- four  Iroquois 
who  formerly  immigrated  from  Canada,  four  only  are  still 
living.  'Not  content  with  planting  the  Faith  in  these  sav- 
age countries,  they  have  also  defended  it  against  the  preju- 
dices of  the  Protestant  ministers.  When  these  pretended 
missionaries  presented  themselves,  our  good  Catholics  re- 
fused to  receive  them.  * 'These  are  not  the  priests  we  have 
spoken  of  to  you,''  they  said  to  the  Flatheads,  ''they  are 
not  the  priests  with  long  black  gowns,  who  have  no  wives, 
who  say  Mass,  and  carry  a  crucifix  with  them, ' '  etc.  For 
God's  sake,  my  Eight  Rev.  Father,  forsake  not  their  souls. 
Accept,  etc.,  etc.  f  Joseph,  Bishop  of  St.  Louis. 


Establishment  of  the  First  Catholic  Mission. 

The  letter  which  we^  publish  above  from  the 
Bishop  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  to  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
produced  at  once  the  result  anticipated.  No  sooner 
had  these  courageous  soldiers  of  the  cross  learned 
that  there  were  thousands  of  souls  pining  for  the 
presence  of  the  true  disciples  of  God,  than  they  set 
to  w^ork  at  once  perfecting  their  plans  so  that  the 
bread  of  life  might  be  broken  to  the  Indians  in 
the  far  west.  Father  Peter  John  De  Smet,  was  se- 
lected as  the  apostle  to  carry  the  cross  to  the  Flat- 
head nation,  and,  after  making  a  few  necessary  pre- 
parations, he  set  out  in  the  spring  of  1840  on  his 
long  and  arduous  journey.  Of  the  trials  which  be- 
set him  on  his  trip  he  has  left  a  full  account  in  his 
sketches  of  the  Western  Missions,  which  are  read  at 
this  distant   day    with    the  same    interest  that    sur- 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  21 

rounded  them  nearly  forty  years  ago.  His  mission 
lasted  two  months  and  resulted  in  the  conversion  of 
six  hundred  Flatheads,  and  finding  the  Indians  so 
well  disposed  to  receive  the  Word  of  Life,  he  re- 
turned to  St.  Louis  for  the  purpose  of  securing  ad- 
ditional Fathers,  as  he  saw  the  work  before  them 
was  one  of  great  magnitude. 

Father  De  Smet  accompanied  by  two  other  Jesuit 
Fathers,  accordingly  returned  to  the  Flathead  In- 
^  dians  in  1841,  bringing  with  them  many  articles 
necessary  for  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  mis- 
sion, and  in  a  short  time  he  had  the  holy  satisfaction 
of  beholding  the  emblem  of  Christianityjarising  over 
the  little  church  which  marked  the  foundation 
of  the  Mission  of  St.  Mary's  of  the  Eocky  Mountains. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Canadians  who  had  settled 
in  what  was  then  known  as  the  Wullamette  valley 
(but  which  has  since  become  recognized  as  the 
Willamette)  began  to  pine  for  the  presence  of  a 
priest  in  their  midst.  The  nearest  bishop  to  whom 
they  could  apply  was  the  venerable  prelate  of  Red 
Eiver;  they  sent  him  two  petitions,  one  dated  July 
3rd,  1834  and  the  other  Feb.  23rd,  1835,  earnestly 
praying  for  some  priests.  In  answering  them,  July 
8th,  1835,  the  Bishop,  addressing  the  Governor,  , 
requests  him  to  deliver  them  his  letter.  Those 
documents  are  too  precious  and  too  interesting  to  be 
omitted,  therefore  we  insert  them. 

TlieBii^Iiop  of  Jiiliopoli^  to  Dr.  Joliu  UlcLaiiglilin. 

Eed  Eiver,  June  6th  1835. 
To  Dr.  J.  McLaughlin. 

Sir  :     I  have  received  last  winter  and   this  spring  a  pe- 
tition from  certain  free  families  settled  on  the  Wallamette 


22  "  SKETCHES       OF      THE 

river,  requesting  that  missionaries  be  sent  to  instruct  their 
children  and  themselves.  My  intention  is  to  do  all  I  can  to 
grant  them  their  request  as  soon  as  possible,  I  have  no 
priest  disposable  at  Red  Eiver,  but  I  am  going  this  year  to 
Europe,  and  I  will  endeavor  to  procure  those  free  people 
and  the  Indians  afterwards  the  means  of  knowing  God.  I 
send  together  with  this  letter  an  answer  to  the  petition 
which  I  have  received ;  I  request  you  to  deliver  it  to  them ; 
I  add  some  catechisms  which  might  be  useful  to  those 
people,  if  there  is  any  one  among  them  that  can  read. 
Those  people  say  they  are  protected  by  you.  Please  in- 
duce them  to  do  their  best,  and  to  deserve  by  good  beha- 
viour, to  derive  benefit  for  the  favor  they  implore. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be.  Sir, 

Your  most  humble  servant, 
fJ.  N.  Provencher,  Bishop  of  Juliopolis. 


The  Bigliop  of  Juliopolis  to  all  the  fainUaes  setile<l  in  the 
Wallaiiiette  valley  and  other  Catholics  heyond  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  greeting : 

I  have  received,  most  beloved  brethren,  your  two  pe- 
titions, one  dated  3d  July  1834,  and  the  other  23d  February 
1835.  Both  call  for  missionaries  to  instruct  your  children 
and  yourselves.  Such  a  request  from  persons  deprived  of 
all  religious  attendance,  could  not  fail  to  touch  my  heart, 
and  if  it  was  in  my  power,  I  w^(»uld  send  you  some  this 
very  year.  But  I  have  no  priests  disposable  at  Red 
Eiver  :  They  must  be  o])tained  from  Canada  or  elsewhere, 
which  requires  time.  I  will  make  it  my  business  in  a 
journey  which  I  am  going  to  make  this  year  in  Canada 
and  in  Europe,  If  I  succeed  in  my  efforts  I  will  soon  send 
you  some  help. 

My  intention  is  not  to  procure  the  knowledge  of  God  to 
you  and  your  children  only,  but  also  to  the  numerous  In- 
dian tribes  among  which  you  live.     I  exhort  you  mean- 


CATHOLIC      CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  23 


while  to  deserve  by  a  good  behaviour  that  God  may  bless 
my  undertaking.  Eaise  your  children  the  best  way  you 
can.  Teach  them  what  you  know  of  religion.  But  re- 
member, my  dear  brethren,  that  the  proper  means  of 
procuring  to  your  children  and  your  wives  some  notion  of 
God  and  the  religion  you  profess,  is  to  give  them  good  ex- 
ample, by  a  life  moderate  and  exempt  from  the  great  dis- 
orders which  exist  among  the  christians  beyond  the 
mountains.  What  idea  do  you  give  of  God,  and  of  the 
religion  you  profess,  to  the  Indians  especially,  who  see  in 
you,  who  are  calling  yourselves  the  servant  of  that  great 
God,  disorders  which  equal  and  perhaps  surpass  their  own  ? 
You  thereby  prejudice  them  against  a  holy  religion  which 
you  violate.  When  this  same  religion,  which  condemns  all 
crime,  shall  be  preached  to  them,  the  Indians  will  object 
the  wicked  conduct  of  those  who  profess  it  as  a  protest  not 
to  embrace  it.  On  receiving  this  letter  which  apprizes 
you  that  probably  you  will  soon  receive  the  priest  whom 
you  seem  to  pray  for  earnestly,  renounce  then  at  once 
sin  ;  begin  to  lead  a  life  more  conformable  to  your  belief,  in 
order  that,  when  the  missionaries  will  arrive  among  you, 
they  will  find  you  disposed  to  avail  yourselves  of  the  in- 
structions and  other  religious  assistance  which  they  shall 
bring  you.  I  wish  God  may  touch  your  hearts  and  change 
them.  My  greatest  consolation  would  be  to  learn  here- 
after that  as  soon  as  this  letter  was  read  to  you,  you  began 
to  pay  a  little  more  attention  to  the  great  affair  of  your  sal- 
vation. 

Given  at  St.  Bonifacdus  of  Red  River,  on  the  Sth  day  of 
June,  1835.        f  J.  IN".  Provencher.    Bishop  of  Juliopolis. 

Demand  of  a  Passage  for  Two  Priests. 

The  only  means  of  communication  from  Canada  to 
Oregon,  being  in  the  hands  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co., 
loj  sending  every  year   a    number  of   canoes   laden 


24  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

with  goods  and  conducted  by  a  number  of  Canadian 
voyageurs,  the  Bishop  of  Juliopolis  made  an  appli- 
cation for  the  passage  of  two  priests  in  one  of  the 
canoes  to  Oregon,  with  the  design  of  forming  an  es- 
tablishment in  the  Wallamette  valley.  To  this  last 
point  the  Governor  and  Committee  in  London  ob- 
jected, but  would  grant  a  passage  on  the  condition 
that  the  priests  would  form  their  establishment  on 
the  Cowlitz  river.  The  Bishop  of  Juliopolis  having 
complied  with  the  suggestion,  Sir  George  Simpson 
wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of  Quebec  that  if  the  two 
priests  would  be  ready  at  Lachine  to  embark  for  the 
anterior  about  the  25th  of  April,  a  passage  would  be 
afforded  them.  The  following  is  the  correspondence 
on  the  subject  : — 

Letter  of  Sir  Get^rse  SiiiipHon,  Goyernor  of  the  lliiasoii  Kay  €o. 
In  the  interior  to  his  Lordship  the  Archbishop  or<|iiel>ec. 

Hudson's  Bay  House,  London,  17th  Feb.  1838. 

'  'My  Lord  :  I  yesterday  had  the  honor  of  receiving 
fi  letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Juliopolis,  dated  Red 
River,  13th  October,  1837,  wherein  I  am  requested 
to  communicate  with  your  Lordship,  on  the  subject 
of  sending  two  priests  to  the  Columbia  river  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  a  Catholic  Mission  in  that 
part  of  the  country. 

''When  the  Bishop  first  mentioned  this  subject, 
his  view  was  to  form  the  Mission  on  the  banks  of 
Wallamette,  a  river  falling  into  the  Columbia  from 
the  south.  To  the  establishing  of  a  mission  there, 
the  Governor  and  Committee  in  London,  and  the 
Council's  in  Hudson's  Bay,  had  a  decided  objection, 
as  the  sovereignty  of  that  countiy  is  still  undecided; 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  25 

but  I  last  fiummer,  intimated  to  the  Bishop  that  if 
he  would  establish  the  mission  on  the  banks  of  the 
Cowlitz  river  or  on  the  Cowlitz  Portage,  falling  into 
the  Columbia  from  the  northward,  and  give  his  as- 
surance that  the  missionaries  would  not  locate  them- 
selves on  the  south  side  of  the  Columbia  river,  but 
would  form  their  establishment  where  the  Co's  rep- 
resentatives might  point  out  as  the  most  eligible 
situation  on  the  north  side,  I  should  recommend  the 
Governor  and  Committee  to  afford  a  passage  to  the 
priests  aud  such  facilities  towards  the  successful  ac- 
complisnment  of  the  object  in  view  as  would  not  in- 
volve any  great  inconvenience  or  expense  to  the  Co's 
service. 

''By  the  letter  received  yesterday,  already  alluded 
to,  the  Bishop  enters  fully  into  my  views,  and  ex- 
presses his  willingness  to  fall  in  with  my  suggestions. 
That  letter  I  have  laid  before  the  Governor  and 
Committee,  and  am  now  instructed  to  intimate  to 
your  Lordship  that  if  the  priests  will  be  ready  at 
Lachine  to  embark  for  the  interior  about  the  25th 
of  April,  a  passage  will  be  afforded  them,  and  on 
arrival  at  Fort  Vancouver  measures  will  be  taken 
by  the  Co's  representative  there  to  facilitate  the  es- 
tablishing of  the  Mission,  and  the  carrying  into 
effect  the  objects  thereof  generally. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  My  Lord. 

Your  Lordship's  most  obedient  servant,  . 
Geo.    Simpson. 

Appointment  of  Missionaries. 
The  Archbishop  of  Quebec  had  no  sooner  received 


26  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

tlie  foregoing  letter  than  he  immediately  gave  the 
charge  of  the  Mission  of  Oregon  to  Rev.  Fbancis 
NoRBERT  Blanchet,  then  Cure  des  Cedres,  district  of 
Montreal,  by  sending  him  letters  of  Vicar  General 
under  the  date  of  April  17th  1838,  and  instructions 
bearing  the  same  date.  His  companion,  Rev.  Modeste 
Demers,  who  was  already  at  Red  River,  was  to  be 
named  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  of  Juliopolis.  These 
instructions  were  as  follows : 

In<^triiction.s  given  to  Tery  Rev.  Francis  Norbert  Blanchet  and 
Rev.  Modeste  Demers,  appointed  Missionaries  for  tliat  part  of 
tlie  Diocese  of  Quebec  wlilcli  is  situated  between  tlie  Pacific 
Ocean  and  tlie  Rocky  Mountains. 

April  17th  1838. 
My  Rev.  Fathers. 

You  must  consider  as  the  first  object  of  your  Mission 
to  withdraw  from  barbarity  and  the  disorders  which 
it  produces,  the  Indians  scattered  in  that  country. 

Your  second  object  is,  to  tender  your  services  to 
the  wicked  Christians  who  have  adopted  there  the 
vices  of  Indians,  and  live  in  licentiousness  and  the 
forge tfulness  of  their  duties. 

Persuaded  that  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  the 
surest  means  of  obtaining  these  happy  results,  you 
will  lose  no  opportunity  of  inculcating  its  principles 
and  maxims,  either  in  your  private  ^conversations  or 
public  instructions. 

In  order  to  make  yourselves  sooner  useful  to  the 
natives  of  the  country  where  you  are  sent,  you  will 
apply  yourselves,  as  soon  as  you  arrive,  to  the  study 
of  the  Indian  languages,  and  will  endeavor  to  reduce 
them  to  regular  principles,  so  as  to  be  able  to  publish 
a  grammar  after  some  years  of  residence  there. 


CATHOLIC      CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  27 

You  will  prepare  for  baptism,  with  all  possible 
expedition,  the  infidel  women  who  live  in  concubinage 
with  Christians,  in  order  to  substitute  lawful  mar- 
riages for  these  irregular  unions. 

You  will  take  a  particular  care  of  the  Christian 
education  of  children,  establishing  for  that  purpose, 
as  much  as  your  means  will  allow,  schools  and  cate- 
chism classes  in  all  the  villages  which  you  will  have 
occasion  to  visit. 

In  all  the  places  remarkable  either  for  their  position 
or  the  passage  of  the  voyagers,  or  the  gathering  of 
Indians,  you  will  plant  more  crosses,  so  as  to  take 
possession  of  those  various  places  in  the  name  of 
the  Catholic  religion.  ^^  *  *         *         jk 

Given  at  Quebec  on  the  17th  day  of  April,  1838, 
fJOSEPH  SIGNAY,  Bishop  of  Quebec. 


Journey  of  the  Missionaries  from  Lachine  to  Fort 
Vancouver. 
Accompanied  by  chief  trader  Hargrave,  Vicar 
General  F.  N.  Blanchet  embarked  in  one  of  the 
light  bark  canoes  carrying  the  express  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  leaving  Montreal  on  Thursday,  May 
3rd  1838,  reaching  Fort  Vancouver  on  the  24th  of 
the  following  November.  The  journey  from  Lachine 
to  Red  River  (2,100  miles)  was  made  in  canoes,  with 
occasional  portages,  in  thirty-three  days.  The  jour- 
ney from  Red  River  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  (2,025 
miles)  occupied  eighty-four  days,  including  deten- 
tions. The  river  route  was  ma3e  in  eleven  light 
barges  and  the  land  trip — occupying  five   days — was 


28  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

made  on  horseback.  Horses  were  also  used  in  ma- 
king the  tedious  trip  across  the  Kocky  Mountains, 
from  Jasper's  House  to  Boat  Encampment  or  Big  Bend 
on  the  Columbia  river.  This  trip  occupied  nine 
days,  a  band  of  seventy-two  horses  being  provided 
for  the  use  of  the  company.  It  took  six  days  to 
make  the  ascent  on  the  Eastern  slope,  and  three 
days  to  descend  to  the  plains  on  the  Pacific  side,  but 
the  missionaries  were  well  repaid  for  the  toils  they 
underwent  in  the  grandeur  of  the  scenery  that  sur- 
rounded them  at  every  step.  The  remainder  of  the 
journey,  from  Big  Bend  to  Fort  Vancouver  (about 
1200  miles)  was  made  in  light  boats  down  the  Colum- 
bia river. 

Vicar  General  Blanchet  having  passed  thirty-five 
days  at  Ked  River,  took  his  departure  in  company 
with  Rev.  Modeste  Demers  on  July  10th.,  stopping 
en  route  at  Norway  House  and  Forts  Constant,  Cum- 
berland, Carleton,  Pitt  and  Edmonton  on  the  Sas- 
katchewan ;  and  Fort  Assiniboine  and  Jasper's 
House  on  the  Athabasca  river.  During  this  journey 
the  missionaries  baptized  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  on  the  Eastern  slope  and  fifty-three  on  the  West- 
ern. After  passing  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains the  missionaries  stopped  at  the  House  of  the 
Lakes,  and  Forts  Colville,  O'Kanagan,  and  Walla 
Walla,  at  each  of  which  immense  crowds  of  Indians 
assembled  in  order  to  behold  the  Blackgmons  whose 
presence  they  had  so  long  waited  for.  During  this 
long  and  tedious  trip  the  missionaries  had  the  happi- 
ness of  celebrating  Mass  and  delivering  an  instruc- 
tion every  Sunday,  and  on  every  day   at  which  they 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  29 

sojourned  at  the  Forts  on  their  route.  By  this 
means  the  consolations  of  our  holy  religion  were 
bestowed  on  many  Catholics  who  for  years  had  been 
strangers  to  the  presence  of  a  priest. 


Consecration  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  God  ;  First 
Mass  in  Oregon. 

As  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  to  be 
reached  and  crossed  on  Wednesday  the  10th  of  Oc- 
tober, the  Missionaries  thought  it  incumbent  upon 
them  to  celebrate  Mass  and  pronounce  the  glorious 
words  which  make  the  God-man  descend  upon 
earth,  in  thanksgiving  for  God's  protection  and 
favors,  and  to  consecrate,  in  a  special  manner,  to 
their  Author  these  sublime  Rocky  Mountains  which 
by  their  grandeur  and  sublimity  seem  anxious  to  cor- 
respond to  the  invitation  of  Holy  Scripture  :  ^'0  ye 
mountains  a7id  hills ^  bless  the  Lord;  praise  and  exalt 
him  above  all  for  ever''  (Dan.  III.  15.)  The  country 
abounding  the  Rocky  Mountains  appeared  as.  a  vast 
sea  of  numberless  isolated  high  mountains,  and  ab- 
rupt peaks  of  all  shapes,  where  the  eye  of  the  trav- 
eller fancies  seeing  here  and  there  perfect  towers, 
beautiful  turrets,  strong  castles,  walls  and  fortifica- 
tions of  all  kinds  ;  as  well  as  barren  heights  which 
form  the  base  of  higher  hills  and  mountains  raising 
majestically  their  lofty  heads  to  heaven.  Magnificent 
indeed  is  the  spectacle  displayed  before  the  eyes  of 
the  voyagers  in  the  greatness  of  the  gigantic  nature 
where  the  hand  of  the  Eternal  was  pleased  to  retrace 
the  image  of  His  creative  power.     Early  on  that  day 


so  SKETCHES       OF       THR 

therefore  at  3  a.  m.  the  Yicar  General  celebrated  the 
Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  to  consecrate  to  their 
Creator  these  mountains  and  abrupt  peaks  whose 
prodigious  height  ascend  towards  heaven  to  celebrate 
in  such  beautiful  language  the  praise  of  the  Almighty. 

It  was  on  Saturday,  the  13th  of  October,  a  day 
dedicated  to  the  Immaculate  Mother  of  God,  that, 
being  at  the  western  foot  of  the  most  lofty  mountains, 
the  two  Missionaries  began  to  tread  beneath  their 
feet  the  long-desired  land  of  Oregon  ;  that  portion 
of  the  vineyard  alloted  them  for  cultivation.  Filled 
-with  joy  they  retired  a  short  distance  from  the  place 
^here  the  caravan  was  resting  on  the  bosom  of  a 
beautiful  prairie,  and  there  fell  on  their  knees,  em- 
braced the  soil,  took  possession  of  it,  dedicated  and- 
consecrated  their  persons, soul  and  body,  to  whatever 
God  would  be  pleased  to  require  of  them  for  the 
glory  of  His  holy  Name,  the  propagation  of  His  king- 
dom and  the  fulfillment  of  His  will,  The  caravan 
Joyfully  reached  Big  Bend  towards  the  evening.  The . 
fact  of  finding  there  but  two  boats  instead  of  four  re- 
•q.uired,  greatly  checked  the  joy  of  all.  The  Captain 
of  the  expedition  decided  that  one  third  of  the  party 
should  remain  until  the  rest  having  reached  the  House 
of  the  Lakes  one  cf  the  boats  would  return  to  their 
relief. 

The  following  day  (October  14th  1838)  being  Sun- 
day, it  was  on  that  day  that  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of' 
Mass  was  offered  for  the  first  time  in  Oregon  at  Big 
jBend,  on  the  banks  of  the  dangerous  and  perilous 
Columbia.  At  this  great  act  of  religion,  performed 
hj  Rev.  M.  Demerg,  the  two  Missionaries  being  much 


/ 

CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  31 

moved,  consecrated  themselves  to  the  Queen  of 
Angels  imploring  her  special  protection  for  the  rest 
of  the  voyage.  The  boats  being  laden  and  ready,, 
and  the  last  prayer  made  on  the  shore,  the  two  Mis»% 
ionaries  shook  hands  with  their  dear  companions 
whom,  alas  !  they  were  to  see  no  more,  and  started 
at  1  p.  m.,  on  the  turbulent  waters,  of  the  upper 
Columbia.  The  range  of  mountains  lowering,  as  it 
-were,  amphitbeatrically,  continues  from  Big  Bend  to 
the  lakes.  The  days  are  short  in  so  deeply  embanked 
a  river  w^hich  runs  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  in  a  success- 
ion of  rapids  or  rather  cascades.  The  distance  fronx 
Big  Bend  to  the  House  of  the  Lakes  is  165  miles 
which  were  run  in  ten  hours  :  two  hours  on  the  14th^ 
six  on  the  15th,  and  two  on  the  16th  of  October. 

The  rapid  of  the  Dalles  of  the  Dead  is  a  narrow 
channel  turning  nearly  at  right  angles  on  the  left 
rocky  high  bank.  The  boats  must  keep  close  to  the 
point  of  the  left  bank  in  order  to  avoid  being  rushed 
into  the  infuriate  waves.  That  dangerous  rapid  was 
run  down  safely  on  the  15th,  the  boats  being  light 
with  baggage  and  passengers  and  well  managed  by 
eight  men,  six  at  the  oars,  one  at  the  stern,  the  other 
at  the  prow  with  long  and  large  paddles  used  as  rud-^ 
ders. 


Eighteen  days  at  the  House  or  the  Lakes  :  First  Miss- 
ionary Labors  in  Oregon.     Loss  of  Twelve  Lives. 

The  boats  were  no  sooner  arrived  at  the  House  of 
the  Lakes,  that  one  of  them  was  unloaded  and  sent 
back  to   the   relief   of  the  party   left  behind.     The 


32  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

House  of  the  Lakes  being  still  in  construction,  tlie 
Missionaries  encamped  as  usual  under  their  tents. 
The  first  week  was  spent  in  prayer,  celebration  of  the 
Mass,  teaching  the  Indians,  singing  canticles  and 
evening  exercises.  The  Indians  of  the  Lakes  soon 
came  to  visit  the  Priests,  anxious  as  they  were  to  see 
and  hear  the  black  gowns  so  often  spoken  of  by  the 
Canadians.  They  were  found  to  be  of  a  mild,  peace- 
able character  and  well  disposed  to  receive  the  words 
of  salvation.  They  being  the  first  sheep  of  the  vast 
fold  entrusted  to  their  care,  the  Missionaries  took 
pleasure  in  instructing  them,  speaking  of  God,  of 
the  Creation,  of  the  fall  of  Angels  and  man,  and  of 
the  Kedemption  by  the  Son  of  God.  The  Indians 
listened  with  attention,  assisting  at  Mass  with  awe  r 
and  before  the  return  of  the  boat,  they  brought  theii* 
children,  (17)  to  be  baptized,  regretting  not  to  have 
the  same  happiness  to  make  their  hearts  good.  It 
was  painful  to  the  Missionaries  to  leave  them  unbap- 
tized. 

When  the  day  on  which  the  boat  was  expected  had 
passed  without  its  arrival,  a  gloomy  presentiment  be- 
gan to  seize  the  hearts  of  all.  It  increased  in  intens- 
ity the  following  day.  At  last,  on  the  24th  at  the 
conclusion  of  Mass,  a  boat  appeared  afar  off,  half 
broken,  coming  in  mourning,  without  the  usual  joy- 
ful chant  at  arriving.  The  men  were  hardly  able  to 
move  their  oars.  As  the  boat  approached  all  ran  to 
the  shore.  At  the  sight  of  so  few  men,  women  and 
children,  a  heart-rending  spectacle  took  place  ;  an 
indescribable  scene  of  desolation  and  shedding  of 
tears  began;   cries  and  piercing  lamentations  were 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  33 

long  heard  and  echoed  by  the  neighboring  moun- 
tains. For,  alas  !  the  boat  had  capsized,  and  out  of 
twenty-six  souls,  twelve  had  perished.  At  Big  Bend, 
the  boat  was  found  too  much  embarrassed  with  bag- 
gage ;  room  was  hardly  left  for  passengers.  At  the 
dangerous  Dalles,  all  went  ashore  with  only  a  portion 
of  the  baggage.  The  boat  started, struck  a  rock,  filled, 
but  was  brought  on  shore.  Having  been  emptied 
and  reloaded,  the  fur  packages  left  in  the  bottom 
having  got  wet,  rendered  the  boat  heavier.  The 
passengers  embarked  with  the  greatest  repugnance. 
On  the  next  rapid  the  boat  filled  up  again.  Then 
commenced  a  scene  of  desolation  and  dread  with  cries 
and  screaming  of  women  and  children.  The  pilot 
commanded  all  to  remain  still,  as  they  were  approach- 
ing the  shore.  But  Mr.  Wallace,  an  English  botan- 
ist, pulled  off  his  coat,  stood  up,  put  one  foot  on  the 
side  of  the  boat  and  leaped  into  the  water  with  his 
young  wife  ;  the  boat  lost  its  balance  and  upset, 
and  of  twenty-six  persons  struggling  in  the  water, 
twelve  lost  their  lives,  Wallace  and  his  wife  in  the 
number.  Some  reached  the  shore,  others  were  saved 
on  the  keel  of  the  boat  which  fortunately  fastened 
itself  on  a  rock  three  or  four  feet  deep  at  the  head  of 
a  rapid.  This  calamity  happened  in  the  dusk  of 
the  evening.  The  body  of  a  child  was  found  caught 
under  the  boat.  Sad,  long  and  excruciating  was 
the  night.  The  next  day,  the  boat  having  been  re 
paired,  the  survivors  continued  their  sorrowful  jour- 
ney. 


OP  THE 


34  sketches     of    the 

Missionary    Labors    at    Colville,     O'Kanagan     and 
Walla  Walla. 

As  soon  as  the  ill-fated  boat  had  arrived,an  Indian 
xjanoe  was  dispatched  to  Colville  for  a  boat  and  pro- 
visions, which  had  become  so  scarce  as  to  threaten 
starvation  and  oblige  each  to  receive  a  daily  allow- 
ance. The  repaired  boat  was  sent  the  following  day 
to  the  scene  of  desolation,  to  look  for,  and  bring 
down  the  dead  bodies  of  the  lost  friends.  It  brought 
down  but  the  bodies  of  three  children  to  whom  were 
rgiven  a  solemn  Christian  burial.  Wooden  crosses 
^ere  blessed  and  placed  over  their  graves. 

The  express  boat  which  had  left  for  Colville  on 
the  16th  had  returned;  the  one  sent  for  by  an  Indian 
express  had  also  arrived  with  provisions  :  there  were 
then  two  good  boats.  All  being  ready,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries bidding  adieu  to  the  good  Indians  of  the 
lakes,  the  caravan  left  on  November  3d.,  the  House  of 
the  Lakes  where  the  last  ten  days  of  sojourning  had 
been  so  soiTowful,  and  reached  Colville  on  the  6th. 
The  express  boat  had  announced  the  coming  of  the 
JBlackgowns ;  the  news  had  spread  like  lightning, 
thence  the  gathering  there  of  the  Chiefs  of  five  na- 
tions. As  soon  as  they  saw  the  boats  coming  they 
rushed  to  the  shore  and  placing  themselves  in  file, 
men,  women  and  children,  they  begged  to  touch  the 
liands  of  the  priests,  which  ceremony  took  a  long 
time.  A  large  house  having  been  placed  at  their 
disposal,  they  used  it  to  assemble  the  Indians  in, 
:and  gave  them  all  the  instruction  they  could,  du- 
ring the  short  time  of  four  days  they  remained  at 
this  posfc. 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  35 

Having  baptized  nineteen  persons  and  celebrated 
Mass  before  the  Chiefs  and  their  people,  who  assisted 
at  the  sacred  mysteries  as  if  already  fervent  chris- 
tians, the  missionaries  left  Colville  on  November  the 
10th  and  reached  Fort  O'Kanagan  on  the  13th,  after 
having  passed  through  many  dangerous  rapids,  daUes 
and  portages.  During  the  twenty-four  hours  they 
remained  at  this  post,  they  had  occasion  to  be  con- 
vinced that  the  Indians  who  frequented  it  needed  only 
to  learn  what  is  required  in  order  to  become  good 
christians.  Fourteen  baptisms  were  made,  and  one 
Mass  celebrated  at  this  Fort.  Leaving  Fort  O'Kana- 
gan  on  November  14th  they  reached  Fort  Walla 
Walla  (now  Wallula)  on  Sunday  morning,  the  18th. 
During  the  twenty-four  hours  they  remained  at  this 
post  they  had  three  baptisms,  celebrated  one  Mass, 
and  were  visited  by  the  Walla  Walla  and  Cayuse 
Indians,  who,  having  heard  by  the  express  of  the 
coming  of  the  priests,  had  come  to  see  and  hear  them 
on  their  passage,  notwithstanding  the  contrary 
orders  of  the  Head  of  the  Wailatpu  mission.  Holy 
^Mass  was  celebrated  before  the  Indians  who  assisted 
at  it  struck  with  amazement.  In  so  short  a  time  the 
priests  could  give  them  but  a  short  explanation  of 
the  most  necessary  truths  for  salvation. 

As  this  is  the  closing  chapter  descriptive  of  the  trip 
of  the  missionaries  across  the  plains,  and  as  our  reci- 
tal hereafter  will  be  mainly  devoted  to  events  and 
incidents  which  transpired  during  the  residence  of 
the  missionaries  in  the  Northwest,  we  think  it  de- 
sirable to  insert  the  following  interesting  letter  of  His 


36  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

Grace  Most  Rev.  Francis  Norbert  Blanchet,  then 
Vicar  General,  to  the  Archbishop  of  Quebec,  de- 
scribing in  detail  the  daily  incidents  of  the  journey 
across  the  plains  and  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries 
at  Vancouver. 

Letter  of  Yicar  (General  Blanchet  to  His  liOr^lf^Siii)  Joseplt  Sig- 
nay,  ArcliMshop  of  Quebec,  giving  an  accoiint  of  the  Jour- 
ney of  the  Missionaries  to  Oregon. 

Fort  Vancouver,  March  17th,  1839. 

My  Lord:  It  is  for  me  a  very  sweet  and  agreeable  task, 
to  send  to  your  Lordship  news  from  the  two  Missionaries 
whom,  in  your  zeal  for  the  ^alvation  of  the  souls  entrusted 
to  your  pastoral  solicitude,  you  have  sent  to  Oregon,  to 
cultivate  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  After  numerous  hard- 
ships and  fatigues,  dangers  by  land  and  water,  in  our  journey 
across  the  continent,  we  have  the  pleasure,  Rev.  Demers 
and  I,  to  announce,  with  love  and  gratitude  towards  God 
and  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  that  we  have  reached  happily 
the  end  of  our  voyage,  yet  not  without  losing  twelve  of  our 
companions,  drowned  in  the  Columbia  river.  Please  join 
in  our  thanksgivings  to  God  for  the  protection  and  cares  of 
his  Divine  Providence  for  us.  As  soon  as  we  arrived,  w^e 
went  to  work.  The  field  is  vast,  our  occupations  are  nu- 
merous, I  have  scarcely  time  to  write.  But  I  know  with 
what  anxiety  and  interest  your  Lordship  is  expecting  some 
notes  regarding  our  journey,  the  country,  the  labors  besfun 
and  the  hopes  given  by  the  Oregon  Mission.  May  the  in- 
formation I  am  going  to  give,  satisfy  your  expectation  and 
fill  the  ardent  desires  which  you  incessantly  feel  for  our 
flock. 

I  will  begin  with  an  account  of  my  trip  from  Lachine  to 
Eed  Piver  (St.  Bonifacius),  where  I  had  to  stop  to  receive 
the  orders  of  Mgr.  Provencher,  Bishop  of  Juliopolis,  and  to 
take  along  with  me  Pev.  Demers,  my  travelling  companion, 
already  there  since  a  year.  I  left  Montreal,  Thursday, 
May  3rd  1838.  The  700  leagues  from  that  city  to  Red 
river  were  traveled  in  33  daj^s,  having  arrived  there  on  the 
6th  day  of  June,  on  one  of  the  Honorable  Hudson  Bay 
Go's  canoes,  commanded  by  Mr.  Hargrave,  chief  trader. 
The  loaded  canons  which*  started  some  days  after  the  light 
onQs,  with  a  number  of  famiUes,  arrived  three  weeks  after. 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  37 

Ever^^one  knows  how  dangerous  this  mode  of  travelling  is. 
To  spend  days  and  often  nights  in  an  uncomfortable  posi- 
tion; to  undergo  the  inclemency  of  seasons,  the  gusts  of 
wind  and  the  torrential  rains;  to  run  dovvn  numberless 
rapids  at  the  peril  of  one's  life;  or  to  travel  on  foot  long 
portages  through  forests,  rocks  and  ponds;  to  camp  out  in 
cold  and  damp  places;  to  devour  in  haste  a  scanty  meal, 
badly  prepared;  to  stop  at  the  different  posts,  inhabited  by 
white  people  and  visited  by  Indians,  but  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments,  the  visitation  of  the  sick  and 
the  exhortation  of  the  poor  sinners ;  such  is,  my  Lord, 
the  life  of  the  Missionaries  on  their  way  to  the  far  West. 

For  eight  days  w^e  went  up,  Mr.  Hargrave  and  I,  the 
Ottawa  river.  We  left  it  and  went  up  another  river  to  its 
source.  That  took  us  a  whole  day.  After  that  came  a 
portage,  three  miles  in  length,  where  is  the  heigth  of  the 
lands  dividing  the  waters  of  the  Ottawa  from  those  flowing 
into  lake  Winnipeg.  At  the  end  of  the  portage,  w^e  came 
down  a  little  river  in  one  day.  We  were  then  on  lake  Win- 
nipeg, which  we  crossed  in  twenty-four  hours.  Walking 
next  a  little  portage,  we  began  to  go  down  the  French  river, 
through  w4iich  lake  Winnipeg  discharges  its  waters  into 
lake  Huron  ;  that  also  took  us  a  whole  day.  The  crossing 
of  lake  Huron  to  Sault  St.  Marie,  lasted  three  days.  From 
thence  to  Fort  William  on  lake  Superior,  six  days  and  a  half. 
Leaving  lake  Superior,  w^e  ascended  for  three  days,  the 
Taministigouia  river,  up  to  a  portage  nine  miles  long,  which 
is  the  height  of  land  and  divides  the  waters  running  into 
lake  Superior  from  those  flowing  into  lake  Winnipeg  and 
thence  into  the  Hudson  bay.  After  that  long  march,  we 
embarked,  near  its  source,  on  the  river  Des  Emharras 
which  flows  into  the  Mille  Lacs.  We  crossed  the  latter  and 
also  Lake  Lapluie  before  reaching  the  Fort  of  the  same 
name.  Our  journey  from  the  height  of  lands  to  this  post  had 
lasted  five  days.  It  took  us  three  days  to  go  down  the  river 
I^apluie,  two  days  to  cross  the  Lac  des  Bois,  three  days  to 
go  down  the  Winnipeg,  one  day  to  cross  lake  Winnipeg, 
and  another  day  to  ascend  Red  river  up  to  St.  Bonifacius, 
residence  of  the  Bishop  of  Juliopolis. 

Our  Canadian  and  Iroquois  travelling  companions  were 
exhausted.  Mr.  Hargrave  no  less  than  I,  and  that  for 
good  reasons.  For,  very  often,  we  would  leave  our  camp  at 
one  in  the  morning  and  encamp  only  at  about  7  or  8  in  the 
evening.     Many  times  we  were  exposed  to  great  dangers. 


38  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

in  the  middle  of  lakes,  or  in  coming  down  or  going  up 
rapids.  The  current  used  to  set  adrift  our  canoe  on  hidden 
rocks,  and  once  our  small  bark  canoe  was  nearly  dashed  to 
pieces  on  one  of  these  hidden  rocks.  The  mournful  crossefi 
to  be  seen  above  and  below  the  rapids,  are  a  sign  of  the 
dangers  these  places  afford. 

According  to'  my  calculation  of  the  hours  of  travelling,  I 
counted  from  Lachine  to  Matawan,  115  leagues  on  the 
Ottawa  ;  hence  to  Sault  St.  Marie,  134  ;  on  lake  Superior 
140  ;  from  Fort  William  to  the  height  of  lands,  56  ;  hence 
to  lake  Lapluie  fort,  98  ;  thence  to  fort  Alexander,  down 
the  Winnipeg  river,  120;  and  at  last,  from  that  place  to 
St.  Bonifacius,  between  35  and  37 ;  total  700  leagues, 
traveled  in  four  hundred  and  eighty-eight  hours  or  33  days 
of  forced  marches. 

At  the  extremity  of  Lake  Lapluie^  I  met  the  worthy  mis- 
sionary of  the  Santeux,  Rev.  M.  Belcourt,  who  was  then 
visiting  the  camps  of  that  nation.  I  crossed  lake  Winnipeg 
on  the  5th  of  June,  and  on  the  6th  I  arrived  at  St.  Bonifacius 
where  I  met  Bishop  Provencher,  Rev.  Thibeault  and  Rev. 
Demers,  appointed  to  the  mission  of  Oregon.  Rev.  Poire, 
missionary  in  the  White  Horse  Prairie^  came  two  days 
after.  Rev.  Belcourt  returned  from  his  mission  on  the 
14th.  The  18th  Rev.  Poire  left  to  accompany  a  caravan  of 
800  or  900  w^agons  going  on  a  buffalo  hunt.  It  w^as  only 
after  his  return  that  this  gentleman  went  to  Canada  with 
Mr.  Belcourt.    Rev.  Mayrand  arrived  on  the  22nd. 

It  is  easier  to  feel  than  to  express  the  joys  and  emotions, 
the  souvenirs  and  hopes  caused  by^  the  meeting  of  those 
zealous  laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  This  w^as  the 
most  numerous  gathering  of  priests  ever  witnessed  by  the 
inhabitants  of  these  remote  regions.  The  mustard-seed  was 
beginning  to  appear  as  a  vigorous  tree,  already  shadowing 
a  multitude  of  souls  drawn  from  the  darkness  of  idolatry  and 
transplanted  in  the  kingdom  of  God;  precious  fruits  of  the 
evangelical  zeal  animating  these  missionaries.  Happy 
prognostics  of  a  still  richer  harvest  to  be  gathered. 

Having  spent  five  weeks  in  visiting  all  the  missions  of 
Red  river,  we  started,  Rev.  Demers  and  I,  on  the  ]Oth  of 
July  for  our  destination,  after  having  sang  a  High  Mass  in 
honor  of  St.  Ann,  to  ask  from  God  the  benediction  of  heaven 
on  our  journey;  for  we  had  to  penetrate  into  a  country 
never  yet  visited  by  a  Catholic  priest.  The  rivers,  lakes, 
mountains,  prairies,  forests  and  hills  of  Oregon  would  soon 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  39 

resound  with  the  praises  of  the  Holy  Name  of  Jesus  ;  the 
cross  would  be  planted  from  place  to  place,  from  shore  to 
shore,  on  a  space  of  one  thousand  leagues  which  we  had 
yet  to  travel,  and  the  w^ord  of  Him  who  said  that  that  sign 
would  attract  all  to  Him  in  the  person  of  these  poor  wan- 
dering sheep  to  which  we  were  sent.  What  a  joy  !  What  a 
tiweet  consolation  for  missionaries  ! 

Frorn  St.  Bonifacius  we  went,  in  seven  days  of  dangerous 
navigation,  to  Norway  House,  a  small  fortress,  130  leagues 
distant  from  our  starting  point,  and  ten  leagues  from  lake 
Winnipeg.  The  commanding  chief  Factor  had  the  kindness 
to  give  us  for  lodging  and  chapel  the  apartments  destined 
for  the  Governor  of  the  company.  We  spent  there  eight 
<iays,  celebrating  Holy  Mass,  distributing  catechisims,  bap- 
tizing the  children  and  some  adults,  instructing  and  exhort- 
ing the  whites  and  Indians  of  the  Fort.  We  also  performed 
two  marriages  there.  On  Saturday,  the  22nd,  there  was  a 
high  mass,  vespers  and  two  sermons,  to  w^hich  some  of  the 
gejitlemen  and  clerks  of  the  company  assisted.  During  this 
brief  stay  of  eight  days,  many  small  bands  of  travelers  came 
from  York  Factory,  on  Hudson's  Bay,  to  Norway  House, 
from  whence  they  w^ere  all  to  start  together  to  cross  the 
mountains. 

The  26th  of  July,  everything  was  ready.  The  brigade 
assembled  and  began  to  march  under  the  command  of  John 
Rowand  Esq.,  Chief  Factor  of  the  Company,  a  Catholic, 
whose  attention,  kindness  and  constant  efforts  to  alleviate 
the  fatigues  and  privations  of  the  route,  we  wiU  never  forget. 
The  brigade  consisted  of  ten  boats  laden  with  merchandise, 
a  great  number  of  hired  men,  women  and  children.  Among 
the  travelers  were  Messrs.  Banks  and  Wallace,  botanists, 
sent  from  England  by  a  scientific  society. 

Having  passed  the  head  of  lake  Winnipeg,  the  river 
Saskatchewan,  or  St.  Peter,  which  we  had  to  ascend  for  37 
days,  appeared  with  the  Grand  rapid  that  requires  a  portage 
of  everything.  We  crossed  the  lakes  de  Travers,  Bourbon, 
Cedres  and  Vases,  On  Sunday,  August  15th,  we  reached 
the  little  fort  Constant,  built  on  the  right  shore.  We  had 
travelled  93  leagues  with  oar,  perch,  sail  and  line,  having 
been  often  obliged,  at  the  principal  rapids,  to  unload  our 
boats.  We  had  baptized  on  the  way  a  child  who  died  an 
hour  later.  Having,  that  day,  sang  high  Mass  in  the 
presence  of  the  Cris  Indians  of  the  neighborhood  who 
appeared  very  well  disposed  to  receive  the  seed  of  the  Word 


40  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

of  God,  we  started  light  away,  and  arrived  on  the  7th  at 
Fort  Cumberland  on  the  lake  of  the  same  name,  36  leagues 
from  fort  Constant,  and  on  the  18th  at  fort  Carleton,  88 
leagues  from  the  last.  There  we  performed  36  baptisms 
and  7  marriages.  Among  those  baptized  were  the  comman- 
der of  the  post,  Mr.  Patrick  Small's  family,  composed  of 
eight  persons,  of  whom  three  were  adults.  At  fort  Pitt,  %1 
leagues  farther,  we  had  eleven  baptisms,  and  at  fort  Edmun- 
ton,  also  called  Prairie  fort,  we  had  39  baptisms,  of  which  5 
w^re  adults,  and  3  marriages. 

This  last  fort,  whither  we  arrived  on  the  6th  of  September, 
is  101  leagues  distant  from  fort  Pitt,  amidst  the  Cris.  It 
would  be  quite  fit  to  become  a  station  for  a  missionary  who 
would  understand  these  Indians'  language.  Meanwhile,  a 
priest  could,  in  good  weather,  go  on  horseback  across  the 
prairies,  from  Eed  river  to  fort  Carleton  in  15  days,  hence 
to  fort  Edmunton  in  12  days,  allowing  time  to  stop  at  every 
fort  along  the  road.  His  visit  would  do  a  great  deal  of  good 
to  the  employees  and  to  the  poor  Indians,  with  whom  they 
trade  in  furs.  On  the  29th  of  September,  we  had  at  fort 
Edmunton,  a  solemn  Mass  and  Veepers  and  two  sermons. 
On  the  10th,  before  leaving,  we  blessed  and  planted  a  cross. 
This  we  did  all  along  the  road,  wherever  w^e  had  said  Mass, 
either  near  the  forts  or  on  the  shore  or  in  the  interior  along 
the  road. 

For  six  weeks  we  had  followed  the  crooked  course  of  the 
Saskatchewan.  We  had  then  to  quit  it  and  to  change  our 
small  fleet  for  a  caravan  of  66  horses,  in  order  to  reach,  by 
land,  across  forests,  ponds,  prairies,  rivers,  ditches  and  beaver 
dams.  Fort  Assiniboine  on  the  Athabasca,  a  distance  of 
34  leagues,  which  required  five  days  of  fatiguing  and  dan- 
gerous walking.  On  September  16lh.,  we|eft  Fort  Assini- 
boine and  began  to  struggle  against  the  rapids  and  dangers 
of  the  Athabasca,  which  we  ascended  for  17  days*  On  the 
28th,  we  s^w  for  the  first  time  the  imposing  forms  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  the  highest  summits  of  which  are  per- 
petually covered  with  snow.  On  tke  2nd  of  October,  we 
had  come  as  far  as  Jasper's  house,  4  leagues  inside  th% 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  were  then  92  leagues  from  fort  As- 
siniboine. There  were  there  35  baptisms,  for  the  greatest 
part  children  of  half  breeds,  or  free  people,  living  in  the 
woods  as  Indians  and  hunting  the  beaver.  Holy  Mass  was 
celebrated  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  far  from  the 
noise  of  Jasper's. 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  4l 

The  Athabasca  being  no  longer  navigable,  we  changed,  on 
the  5th,  our  boats  for  a  caravan  of  72  horses,  a  great  deal 
worse  and  more  imperfect  than  iho^Q oi Edmunfon,  These 
animals  were  easily  frightened  and  throwing  off  horseman 
and  baggage  they  would  either  start  for  the  woods  or  run 
into  ponds  or  mud  holes.  The  organization  was  difficult 
and  the  departure  slow.  We  went  along  the  right  shore  of 
the  river  which,  running  in  zigzags  in  a  valley  well  timbered 
and  bordered  with  high  mountains,  produced  high  and  long 
points  that  we  had  to  cross  straight  over,  in  order  to  short- 
en the  distance.  We  had  to  cross  channels,  forests  and 
sand  bars  :  we  traveled  along  side  of  a  lake  at  the  head  of 
which  is  the  Prairie  Campment,  where  we  halted.  We 
were  three  leagues  from  Jasper's  house  and  had  come  there 
in  four  hours. 

On  the  6th  we  had  to  cross  forests  of  thick  woods  and  to 
climb  up  hills  and  rocks  dix)ping  into  the  water.  We  had 
to  pass  on  the  side  of  these  hills  whence  the  eye  sees  with 
awe  the  yawning  abyss.  Woe  to  the  rider  whose  horse  would 
miss  a  single  step  !  After  having  climbed  very  high  rocks 
and  traveled  4  leagues  in  3J  hours  we  camped  opposite  the 
rock  called  the  Old  Man, 

On  the  7th,  after  two  hours  of  march  over  a  nice  little 
prairie,  lightly  covered  with  wood,  on  a  level  ground,  we 
took  breakfast  in  a  fine  prairie.  We  then  went  up  and 
down  12  or  13  hills  and  rocks  covered  with  wood.  We 
crossed  four  little  rivers,  the  Camp  of  the  Cow^  pretty 
groves  of  ligVit  wood  and  beautiful  willows.  Having  walked 
7  leagues  in  7J  hours,  we  camped  near  the  South  fork  or 
branch  of  the  Athabasca^  in  a  place  covered  with  burnt 
trees. 

On  the  8th,  the  luggage  and  people  w^ere  carried  over, 
in  a  canoe  w^iich  had  been  brought  so  far  with  infinite 
pains  and  labor  from  Jasper's.  The  horses  swam  across. 
This  branch  of  the  river  was  a  real  torrent,  45  steps  or 
yards  wide.  The  Southwestern  branch  is  but  30  feet  wide, 
we  had  to  cross  it  on  horseback  from  its  right  shore  at  a 
place  called  The  Hole  where  the  horses  lost  footing  for  18 
feet.  The  baggage  and  horsemen  did  not  get  wet ;  as  to 
those  who  w^ere  on  foot,  they  had  to  swim,  holding  the  lag- 
gage  or  the  horse's  tail.  Proceeding  now  along  the  shore, 
then  on  the  top  of  high  rocks,  we  met  with  many  obstacles 
offered  by  high  rocks,  thick  timber  and  fallen  trees.  A 
hill  appeared;   in  order  to  facilitate  its  steep  ascension,  we 


42  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

got  up  it  in  zigzags.  We  had  to  dismount  our  horses  in  a 
place  where  the  hoi-ses  had  to  jump  and  cHmh.  From  the 
top  of  this  hill  appeared  the  most  enchanting  scenery.  Our 
sight  rested  with  pleasure  on  a  large  valley  bordered  with 
forests  raising  their  heads  up  to  one  fourth  of  the  mountain- 
ous height.  In  the  middle  of  tlus  valley,  we  could  see  the 
river,  with  its  thousand  turns  and  as  many  points  or  hills 
produced  by  its  course.  It  was  a  magnificent  and  enchant- 
ing spectacle  which  caused  our  hearts  to  raise  to  God,  and 
which  we  were  sorry  to  leave.  We  quitted  the  river,  crossed 
several  hills  and  groves  and  again  reached  the  river.  We 
came  to  the  Moose  Prairie,  where  a  nice  waterfall,  sevel-al 
hundred  teet  high,  falls  from  the  top  of  the-  mountains  into 
the  river.  The  road  had  been  bad  and  dangerous  that  day. 
The  5  leagues  which  the  light  cavalry  had  run  in  6 J  hours, 
were  travelled  in  two  hours  more  by  the  loaded  animals. 

On  the  9th,  we  crossed  new  points  and  high  hills  before 
reaching  the  first  grand  beach  two  miles  wide,  covered 
with  nice  stones,  bordered  with  mountains,  and  in  the  midst 
of  which  the  river  seemed  to  play,  making  a  thousand  turns 
from  one  slope  of  the  mountains  to  the  other.  We  crossed 
a  second  beach  through  whicli  the  river  flowed  in  like  man- 
ner. That  day  we  had  to  cross  it  25  times  in  order  to  short- 
en the  distance.  "We  saw  many  glaciers  in  the  mountain 
passes,  went  through  many  a  snow  bank  and  also  saw  a 
waterfall  as  considerable  as  the  fii-st.  It  was  the  Barrel 
Fall,  We  halted  at  the  Gun  Camp,  surrounded  with  high 
peaks  white  with  snow.  We  had  travelled,  that  day,  8 
leagues  in  seven  hours. 

On  the  10th,  being  at  IJ  leagues  fn^m  the  top  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  at  3  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  celebrated 
under  a  tent,  the  august  sacrifice  of  the  Immaculate  Lamb 
in  thanksgiving  for  all  the  benefits  the  Lord  had  bestowed 
upon  us,  and  to  consecrate  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross 
these  sublime  mountains,  to  the  glory  of  their  Creator,  the 
all-powerful  God,  of  whom  they  sing  the  praise  and  power. 
Having  walked  with  much  fatigue  2J  hours,  across  ponds, 
rocks,  fiillen  trees  and  other  obstacles,  on  the  slope  of  moun- 
tains, along  side  of  the  narrow  but  swift  torrent,  we  came, 
by  a  steep  way  to  the  gorge  or  pass  half  a  league  wide,  be- 
tween the  two  mountain  ranges.  Brown  and  Hooker,  whose 
grand  summit  perpetually  covered  with  snow,  arise  some 
17  or  18,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This  pass 
pretty  steep  in  its  central  slope,  is  covered  on  both  sides 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH       IN        OREGON.  43- 

with  masses  of  rock  fallen  from  the  abrupt  mountains, 
whilst  other  rocks,  suspended  above,  seem  to  threaten 
the  frightened  traveller. 

Half  way  in  the  gorge  is  a  round  lake  called  Punch 
Bowl,  It  is  thirty  yards  in  diameter.  Its  waters  com- 
municate, underground,  with  two  other  lateral  lakes, 
wherein  originate  two  rivulets  :  one  is  the  source  of  the 
East  branch  of  the  Athabasca,  the  other  is  the  source  of  the 
Portage  river  in  the  West.  These  two  rivers  are  supplied 
by  a  great  many  streams  from  the  mountains  ;  so  little  at 
first  they  soon  become  impracticable  torrents,  rolling  their 
w^aters  with  an  extraordinary  noise.  There,  at  Punch 
Boivl,  we  were  but  one  league  and  a  half  from  our  morn- 
ing camp,  and  it  had  taken  us  two  hours  and  a  half  to  trav- 
el this  short  distance.  We  were  27J  leagues  from  Jasper's^ 
700  leagues  from  St.  Bonifacius  and  1,400  from  Montreal. 
One  may  judge,  thereby  of  the  obstacles  encountered  in  that 
clay,  without  speaking  "^of  the  obstacles  and  dangers  met 
with  for  six  days  on  the  Eastern  slope,  in  the  ascent  and 
descent  of  hills,  rocks  and  heights,  from  Jasper's.  We 
still  walked  one  mile  and  a  half  in  two  hours,  going  down 
the  Western  slope,  much  steeper  than  the  Eastern  one  ; 
and  going  over  rocks,  fragments  of  rocks,  and  trees 
along  the  Portage  river.  We  halted  a  short  distance  from 
La  Grande  Cote,  a  great  steep  hill  we  had  to  descend,  and 
whither  our  loaded  horses  arrived  but  two  hours  after 
those  of  the  light  cavalr3^  They  were  tired  and  unable  to 
go  any  further. 

On  the  11th,  the  (rrea^^^^YZ  appeared  with  its  long  circuits 
in  zigzags,  to  facilitate  the  steepness  of  its  descent.  We 
descended  it  in  three  hours;  the  first  part  on  horseback,  the 
second  on  foot,  and  the  third  part  on  horseback  again;  after 
which  the  caravan  rested  for  some  hours  on  a  beautiful 
bush-prairie;  the  first  portion  of  the  large  field  we  were  sent 
to  cultivate.  We  took  possession  of  it,  and  consecrated  our 
selves  to  its  cultivation.  We  crossed  the  Portage  river  eight 
times.     Thus  we  made  4  leagues  in  5}  hours. 

On  the  next  day,  our  riding  horses  walked  two  leagues  in 
4  J  hours  through  the  mud  holes  of  the  great  timber  Point ; 
it  took  the  laden  animals  eight  hours  to  make  that  distance 
because  they  had  to  be  unloaded  and  loaded  again,  every 
now  and  then. 

On  the  18th,  the  travelling  w^as  easier  and  more  agreeable. 
Having  walked  for  six  hours  and  crossed  several  points  of 


44  SKETCHES      OF      THB 

woods  and  hills,  we  reached  Boat  encampment  on  t^e 
right  shore  of  the  Columbia  and  Portage  river,  some  dis- 
tance below  its  junction  with  the  Canoe  river  flowing  from 
the  North.  We  had  come  down  the  West  slope  of  the 
mountains  in  3  days.  vVe  were  ISJ  leagues  from  Punch 
Bowl  J  41  from  Jasper's,  45  from  the  entrance  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  of  which  the  range  seems  to  continue  up  to  the 
head  of  the  lakes,  5-5  leagues  further  below. 

The  Columbia  has  its  source  50  leagues  on  the  South. 
From  the  BoaVs  eJicamjoment,  it  abruptly  turns  to  the 
West,  hence  the  name  of  "Big  Bend"  is  given  to  this  curve. 
It  then  flows  Southwest  down  to  the  Spokane  river,  below 
Colville ;  then  Northwest  to  Okanagan  ;  thence  Southwest 
to  Wallula ;  thence  West  to  Vancouver ;  thence  Northwest 
to  Cowlitz ;  thence  West  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  rapid 
river  about  60  yards  wide  at  Big  Bend,  which  rolls  its  swol- 
len waters  amidst  numberless  dangers^  and  was  to  offer  us 
in  its  rapids,  its  whirlpools,  its  dalles,  its  falls,  its  abyses,  a 
thousand  more  dangers  than  all  the  rivers  we  had  yet  navi- 
gated, was  now  before  us.  We  had  now  to  encounter  its 
dangers ;   and  we  were  ready  to  meet  them. 

On  the  14th,  it  being  a  Sunday,  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  Mass 
was  celebrated  to  consecrate  us  to  the  Queen  of  Angels  and 
beg  her  to  take  us  under  her  protection.  It  was  the  first 
Mass  celebrated  on  the  territory  of  our  mission.  At  \\  p. 
m.,  the  boats  were  loaded,  the  prayers  having  been  said  on 
the  shore,  we  shook  hands  with  our  travelling  companions 
whom  we  quitted,  alas  !  never  to  meet  again  and  we  began 
to  sail.  Having  travelled  10  leagues  in  SJ  hours,  we  camped 
in  the  middle  of  the  rocks,  and  towards  dusk  went  down 
some  bad  places  to  choose  a  better  site. 

On  the  15th,  the  grand  and  famous  Dalles  of  the  Dead 
appeared  ;  it  seems  to  be  but  20  yards  wide.  What  makes 
it  dangerous  is  the  curved  form  or  elbow  of  high  perpendic- 
ular rocks  against  which  the  whole  body  of  water  rushes. 
Hence  the  fury  of  the  waves  and  the  necessity  to  pass  close 
by  the  opposite  shore.  Here  we  had  to  leave  the  boats  to 
carry  off  every  thing.  The  barge  is  then  conducted  by 
eight  men,  six  at  the  oars,  and  one  at  each  extremity  as 
pilots  with  long  and  wide  paddles.  In  that  way  the  D  alles 
of  the  Dead  was  passed  without  much  danger.  The  ittle 
Dalles  below,  30  yards  wide  were  also  fortunately  run  down 
with  loaded  boats.  We  also  w^ent  through  3  big  rapids  and 
30  smaller  ones,  besides  a  strong  continuous  current  and 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  45 

abysses  which  threaten  the  unskillfal  travelers.  My  barge 
broke  open  in  the  morning,  during  the  fog,  on  a  hidden 
rock,  which  put  us  into  great  danger.  My  companion 
w^as  in  the  other  barge.  The  river  which  from  the  Barges 
encampment,  looks  as  a  canal  cut  through  the  moun- 
tains, began  to  flow,  towards  evening,  in  a  less  mountainous 
country.  In  this  canal  the  horizon  always  appears  on  a 
level  with  the  top  of  the  trees  of  the  following  rapids,  and 
the  high  walls  of  rock,  now  crowned  with  forests,  and  then 
beautiful  rows  of  willows,  terminate  at  every  rapid  by  a  fall, 
or  kind  of  step  making  a  real  amphitheatre.  It  is  a  grand, 
magnificent  and  delighting  sight,  but  the  dangers  offered  by 
the  canal  prevented  our  enjoying  it.  On  that  day  we  had 
traveled  40  leagues. 

On  Tuesday,  the  16th,  having  made  5  leagues  in  21  hours, 
we  reached,  at  8 J  a.  m.,  the  House  of  the  Lakes.  Two 
hours  after,  one  of  our  boats  went  back  to  the  Barges 
eneamijment  to  fetch  down  the  third  of  our  companions  we 
had  left  there  for  want  of  room.  The  other  boat  started  for 
Vancouver  with  the  express.  It  took  6  days  to  the  first  to 
go  up  the  ^b  leagues,  which  separated  us  from  them;  she 
arrived  there  on  the  21st.  Next  day,  she  started  down,  got 
filled  with  water  at  the  Dalles  of  the  Dead,  was  emptied, 
but  again  filled  in  the  following  Dalle:  she  was  going  ashore 
when  some  one,  jumping  in  the  water,  upset  her.  Plence 
the  loss  of  12  persons  out  of  the  26  who  mounted  her.  It 
was  about  dusk  when  this  calamity  occurred.  The  broken 
barge  went  on  her  way  the  following  day  and  arrived  on  the 
24th  in  the  morning  at  our  camp.  Great  was  the  conster- 
nation at  this  new^s  :  an  express  was  sent  to  Colville  for  a 
boat  and  some  proTlsions.  The  other  one  was  repaired  and 
w^ent  back  to  the  unfortunate  spot  to  bring  the  drowned 
bodies  dow^n.  That  accident  detained  us  18  daj^s  at  the 
House  of  the  Lakes,  This  time  was  spent  in  instructing 
the  Indians,  who  appeared  quite  do(;ile  and  well  disposed, 
they  were  sorry  not  to  have  the  same  happiness  as  their 
children,  to  be  baptized. 

At  last  on  the  3rd  of  November,  having  performed  17 
baptisms,  one  marriage,  and  buried  three  drowned  children 
the  only  bodies  found,  at  the  foot  of  a  cross  erected  a  few 
steps  from  our  camp  where  we  celebrated  Holy  Mass,  every 
day,^  we  embarked  in  two  boats,  upon  the  waters  still  keep- 
ing in  their  bosom  nine  of  our  companions.  We  crossed 
the  first  lake,  13  leagues  long,  and  one  wide.     Then  came 


46  SKETCHES       OE       THE 

the  second  lake  18  leagues  by  2  miles.  Below  the  lakes 
on  the  left,  is  the  Koutenais  river  which  appeared  to  be  300 
feet  wide  ;  and  four  hours  distance  below,  the  Flathead 
river  falling  into  the  Columbia  through  a  beautiful  fall  and 
only  60  yards  wide.  The  ninth  rapid  below  the  lakes  forms 
the  little  Dalles  where  the  water  passes  through  a  canal  100 
feet  wide  between  high  rocks  of  basaltic  columns.  We 
can  say  that  the  Rocky  Mountains  extend  as  fiir  as  the 
lakes.  Below  that  point  they  are  more  scarce  and  less  ele- 
vated. The  day  before  we  arrived  at  Fort  Colville,  the 
want  of  timber — which  abounded  to  the  Great  Dalles — 
began  to  be  noticeable. 

After  having  travelled  3  days  to  make  72  leagues,  we 
reached,  on  the  forenoon  of  the  6th,  Fort  Colville  where  we 
remained  3J  days,  occupied  in  celebrating  Holy  Mass  and 
in  instructing  the  Indians  of  five  nations  who  assisted  with 
as  much  respect  as  if  they  had  been  fervent  Christians. 
Having  performed  19  baptisms,  we  left  that  fort  on  the  10th, 
and  went  to  camp  two  miles  below  in  order  to  avoid  the 
Chaudieres  fall,  which  stops  navigation  at  that  place. 

On  the  11th  in  the  morning,  we  were  travelling  upon  the 
Columbia  which  appeared  full  of  dangers.  The  grand  rap- 
id appeared,  20  others  followed.  On  the  12th,  we  passed 
the  fork  of  the  Spokanes,  on  the  left  shore  and  that  of  the 
Simpoils  on  the  right.  On  the  13th,  we  reached  Fort 
Okanagan,  situated  on  the  right  shore,  64  leagues  from 
Colville.  We  had  travelled  that  distance  in  three  days, 
passing  through  innumerable  rapids,  at  the  most  dangerous 
of  which  the  people  had  to  land  in  order  to  lighten  the 
boats. 

We  started  again  on  the  14th,  after  having  baptized  14 
persons,  celebrated  Mass  and  instructed  the  neighboring 
Indians  during  the  24  hours  of  our  stay  at  the  fort.  The 
little  river  Okanagan  appeared  right  away.  We  jumped 
12  rapids  on  that  day.  On  the  next  day,  the  15th,  a  rapid 
was  formed  by  the  Rock  Islands.  The  passengers  went 
ashore,  and  yet  it  did  not  prevent  the  boat  carrying  our 
vestments,  striking  a  rock  and  breaking  in  coming  down  a 
cascade.  She  was  filling  with  water  as  she  approached  the 
shore.  On  the  loth,  we  saw,  at  a  height  of  100  feet  in  the 
fissure  of  a  rock,  a  petrified  tree.  Whilst  jumping  the  four 
big  rapids  of  the  Priest,  our  boat  struck  on  the  bottom  but 
did  not  break.  Below  these  rapids,  the  high  and  moun- 
tainous shores  of  the  river  give  place  to  low  and  levelled 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  47 

prairies  over  which  the  sight  can  extend  with  ease.  On 
that  very  day,  we  enjoyed  a  spectacle  of  which  we  had  been 
deprived  since  we  left  Winnipeg,  that  was  the  sunset.  The 
remainder  of  this  day  and  also  the  next,  we  sailed  on  quiet 
waters.  ^  The  low  shores  gave  us  a  chance  to  see  the  Blue 
Mountains,  South  of  Walla  Walla  (Wallula)  and  those  that 
go  to  Puget  Sound  or  Mount  Rainier.  We  left  behind  us, 
on  the  right,  the  Yakima  river,  and  below,  and  on  the  left, 
the  Snake  River,  also  called  Lewis  and  Clark,  which  ap- 
peard  to  be  500  feet  wide. 

On  Sunday,  the  18th,  we  arrived  early  in  the  morning  at 
Fort  Walla  Walla,  built  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Columbia, 
a  short  distance  from  the  river  of  that  name.  Peter  Chry- 
sologue  Pambrun,  Esq.,  in  charge  of  that  important  Fort,  a 
Catholic,  received  the  two  Missionaries  with  the  greatest 
cordiality.  He  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Vaudreuil,  district 
of  Montreal,  Canada,  and  was  formerly  Lieutenant  in  the 
Voltigeurs  Canadians,  His  ex<3ellent  wife  was,  at  the 
time  at  Fort  Vancouver  with  her  little  girls,  Maria,  aged  12, 
Eda  3,  and  Harriet  16  months  ;  and  the  boys  Andrew  Dom- 
inick,  17,  Peter  Chrysologue,  15.  The  girls  were  baptized 
with  their  mother  on  December  18,  and  the  father  had  his 
marriage  blessed  on  the  same  day.  It  was  a  beautiful  and 
happy  day  for  me. 

The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  was  celebrated,  after 
which  the  chiefs  of  the  Cay  uses  and  Walla  Wallas  came  with 
their  people  to  see  the  priests.  The  Cay  uses  were  divided 
into  two  tribes  ;  one  of  which — on  the  Walla  Walla  river — 
known  as  Wailatpu,  formed  the  Presbyterian  mission,  es- 
tablished by  Dr.  Whitman  in  1836.  The  other  camp,  lying 
on  the  Umatilla  river,  30  miles  hence,  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  j^oung  chief  Tomatoe.  The  day  was  passed  in 
speaking  to  them  of  God  and  religion.  They  were  so  glad 
to  see  the  Blackgoivns  so  long  expected.  There  were  three 
baptisms  made  at  this  place,  and  on  a  subsequent  visit  by 
Rev.  M.  Demers,  the  young  chief  brought  his  child  to  be 
baptized  by  the  priest,  Mr.  Pambrun  having  consented  'to 
be  its  godfather  which  gained  for  him  great  blame  and  dis- 
pleasure from  the  Doctor.  Since  that  time  the  young  chief 
and  his  band  always  p^-eferred  the  priest's  prayers  before 
that  of  the  minister. 

On  Monday,  the  19th,  we  left  Fort  Walla  Walla,  with  its 
excellent  commander.  The  httle  river  Walla  Walla,  on 
the  left,  was  followed  by  the  Umatilla  on  the  same  side. 


48  SKETCHES       OF      THE 

Seven  leagues  below  the  Fort,  we  leaped  the  Grand  Rapid 
without  accident.  From  thence,  we  began  to  see  the  white 
summit  of  Mount  Hood,  whose  base  is  the  Cascades  range. 
On  this  day,  the  20th,  our  provisions  becoming  short,  two 
horses  were  purchased  for  food,  for  which  the  Indians  were 
paid  $10  a  piece.  The  Columbia  being  pretty  low  at  this 
season  of  the  year,  our  two  boats  touched  the  ground  in 
descending  the  seventh  rapid  on  that  day.  We  left  the  lit- 
tle river  John  Day  on  the  left. 

On  Wednesday,  the  21st,  we  saw  the  Des  Chutes  river, 
on  the  same  side,  and  we  approached  it  on  the  right  side  by 
a  narrow  channel,  with  great  precaution,  on  account  of  the 
proximity  of  the  falls.  Here,  we  had  a  long  portage  of 
boats  and  baggage,  for  a  mile.  The  task  was  made  more 
difficult  by  a  glazed  frost.  The  Indians  of  this  place,  who 
appeared  very  poor  and  destitute,  came  to  the  assistance  of 
the  men,  but  not  without  having  been  earnestly  and  incess- 
antly begged  a  while.  That  portage  took  us  four  hours. 
The  Petites  Dalles,  (Little  Dalles),  so  called  by  the  first 
French  Canadian  voyageurs,  are  about  half  an  hour's  march 
from  Des  Chutes,  We  passed  them  without  accident,  they 
are  a  mile  long  and  about  250  feet  wide,  walled  on  both 
sides,  with  basaltic  columns,  with  projecting  points  and 
recesses,  which  form  a  canal,  or  dalle,  through  which  the 
stream  moved  with  the  swiftness  of  a  dart.  The  danger  had 
been  nul  so  far,  but  it  came  on  after  crossing  the  Dalles) 
for  our  boat  being  caught  by  the  current  of  a  whirlpool  was 
carried  close  to  a  rock,  wh^!re,  had  it  struck  and  broken  ' 
it  would  soon  have  sunk. 

One  league  further  down  we  found  the  Grandes  Dalles, 
60  called  by  the  French  Canadian  voyageurs,  and  Wascopum 
by  the  Indians.  Here  the  Columbia  is  intercepted  by  a 
chain  of  solid  rocks,  through  which,  (wonderful  to  say  and 
see)  the  strong  mass  of  w^aters  have  opened  a  channel  to 
themselves.  The  Orandes  Dalles  are  four  miles  long, 
impracticeable  in  the  high  water  of  May  and  June,  and 
passable  in  the  low  waters  of  the  Fall;  but  even  then,  not 
without  a  discharge  of  person  and  baggage  for  the  two  first 
miles.  The  first  part  is  a  canal  of  about  150  feet  wdde, 
walled  with  basaltic  columns  of  about  50  feet  high,  ending 
w^ith  a  platform  of  about  30  feet  broad,  terminating  with 
other  basaltic  columns  of  60  feet.  Daring  the  high  water 
the  swollen  Columbia  passes  over  the  platform.  In  the  low 
waters  it  only  runs  through  the  lower  channel;    projecting 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OKEaON.  49 

points  and  recesses  in  the  walls,  form  waves  and  whirlpools 
very  dangerous,  even  for  light  boats  managed  by  eight  men, 
six  afe  the  oars,  and  of  the  two  others,  one  at  the  stern,  and 
the  other  at  the  prow,  with  long  and  large  paddles,  used  as 
rudders;  nevertheless,  they  are  never  passed  without  dread. 
The  two  first  miles  were  run  in  ten  minutes.  During  the 
middle  waters  the  whirlpools  are  very  dangerous  ;  I  was  told 
that  several  years  ago  a  boat  was  caught  by  one  of  them, 
which  soon  disappeared  in  its  large  and  deep  funnel.  After 
crossing  the  Grandes  DciLLes  we  saw  on  the  left,  the  build- 
ings of  the  Methodist  missions  for  the  Indians,  established 
in  1837. 

On  Thursday,  the  22nd.,  we  passed  the  Great  Rock  of 
the  Dead.  From  the  Dalles  to  the  Cascades  our  navagatioa 
was  quiet  and  pleasant,  on  the  smooth  water  of  the  Colum- 
bia, bordered  on  both  sides  with  picturesque  mountains. 
On  Friday  the  23rd.,  we  reached  the  Cascades  which  stops 
the  navagation  for  four  miles,  and  requires  the  portage  of 
the  baggage.  But  they  are  far  from  being  what  their  name 
indicates,  a  series  of  cascades  ;  for  the  two  first  miles,  they  are 
simply  a  big  rapid  passing  between  the  contracted  banks  of 
the  river,  followed  by  a  swift  current,  a  wavering  water 
along  the  shore  of  the  river,  on  the  left,  while  the  un- 
loaded boats  can  be  brought  down  with  a  line  along  the 
shore  of  the  right  bank  for  the  first  two  miles  ;  then,  partly 
laden,  they  ran  the  last  two  miles  with  oai*s.  We 
reached  the  Upper  Cascades  with  great  care,  and  early 
enough  before  noon  to  make  the  long  portage  on  the  same 
day,  and  encamp  at  the  Lower  Cascades.  On  Saturday 
the  24th.,  we  went  on  with  sail  and  oars;  we  left  on  our 
right  the  high  rock  called  Cape  Horn,  by  the  travelers,  on 
account  of  wind  and  storm  often  prevailing  there.  We 
passed  many  islands,  and  when  approaching  Fort  Vancouver 
the  boats  went  ashore  to  allow  the  travelers  to  make  their 
toilets,  and  soon  after  we  were  at  the  end  of  our  long  journey, 
at  5  p.  m. 

We  experienced  cold  from  Colville  to  the  Grandles 
Dalles.  It  was  so  severe,  some  days,  as  to  form  ice  on  the 
oars  of  the  men.  Some  evenings  we  found  the  ground  cov- 
ered with  3  or  4  inches  of  snow  which  we  had  to  remove  to 
pitch  our  tents.  Some  nights  the  cold  was  9  degrees  of 
Keaumur.  Such  nights  as  we  passed  under  a  tent  at  some 
distance  from  a  scanty  fire,  on  account  of  the  scaroity^  of 
driftwood  to  be  found  on  the  shore,   were  far  from  being 


50  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

pleasant.     At  Deschutes  portage,  the  ground  was  covered 
with  a  hard  glazed  frost. 

The  ecclesiastical  soutane  or  cassock  of  priests,  whicVi  is 
the  type  of  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ  and  of  His  Chcrch, 
and  the  glorious  habit  of  the  clergy  of  Canada,  was  w^orn 
by  us  all  the  time  during  our  long  journey  from  Canada  to 
Oregon,  and  since  our  arrival,  it  was,  then,  easy  for  the 
Canadians  t(>  recognize  their  priests  and  the  Indians  the 
Blackgowns  announced  to  them.  This  practice  we  will 
continue  to  observe,  at  home  and  abroad. 

At  Fort  Vancouver,  we  were  40  leagues  from  the  ocean  ; 
20  from  the  Cascades ;  40  from  the  Dalles  ;  145  from 
Okanagan  ;  209  from  Colville  ;  287  from  the  House  of 
the  Lakes ;   342  from  Big  Bend  and  355  from  Punch  Bowl. 

In  closing  this  long  letter,  I  beg  to  be  allowed  to  refer 
your  Lordship  to  a  general  report  of  our  reception  at  Fort 
Vancouver  and  our  Missionary  labors."  Please  bless  your 
two  Missionaries  in  the  great  far  West,  their  flock  and  their 
labors,  and  accept  the  homage  of  the  sentiments  of  venera- 
tion with  which 

I  have  the  honor  to  be.  My  Lord, 

of  your  Lordship, 
the  most  humble  and  obedient  servant, 
F.  ]Sr,  BLANCHET,  V.  G. 


ARRIVAL  AND  Reception  of  the  Missionaries  at  Fort 
Vancouver. 


The  two  missionaries  being  anxious  to  reach  the 
destination  of  their  long  and  arduous  journey,  the 
brigade  started  from  Fort  Walla  Walla,  (now  Wal- 
lula)  on  Monday  morning,  November  lOtli.,  reach- 
ing Fort  Vancouver  on  the  following  Saturday  after 
a  week's  slow  and  tedious  descent  of  the  Columbia 
river.  The  same  distance  is  now  travelled  l)y  steam- 
boats in  two  days. 

When  the  flotilla  appeared  in  sight,  as  it  made   its 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH 


way  down  the  Columbia,  all  was  excitement  at  the 
Fort,  where  news  had  already  been  received  of  the 
calamity  which  had  occurred  to  the  party  and  the 
consequent  loss  of  life.  All  the  populace  rushed  to 
the  river  bank  in  order  to  feast  their  eyes  on  the  first 
Catholic  missionaries  whose  presence  they  had  long 
expected.  Prominent  among  the  assembly  stood 
James  Douglas,  who  was  acting  Chief  Factor  and 
Governor  of  the  establishments  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Co.  west  of  the  Kocky  Mountains,  in  the  absence  of 
Dr.  John  McLoughlin  who  was  then  absent  on  a 
visit  to  Canada  and  England.  He  was  the  first  to 
welcome  the  missionaries  to  the  scene  of  their  future 
labors.  Conducting  them  to  the  Fort,  where  the 
flag  was  flying  in  honor  of  their  arrival,  the  Governor 
ushered  them  to  apartments  prepared  for  them,  ap- 
pointc']  a  servant  to  wait  on  them,  and  in  every  way 
manifested  his  hospitality  and  his  delight  at  their 
arrival. 

No  sooner  had  the  missionaries  reached  the  Fort 
than  they  were  waited  upon  by  Joseph  Gervais,  Eti- 
enne  Lucier,  and  Pierre  Beleque  a  delegation  repre- 
senting the  Canadians  of  the  Wallamette  valley,  who, 
having  heard  that  the  missionaries  were  coming, 
had  left  their  homes  in  a  body  in  order  to  greet  the 
long-looked  for  Catholic  missionaries  on  their  arrival 
at  Vancouver,  but  nearly  all  had  been  obliged  to  re- 
turn home  in  consequence  of  the  delayed  arrival  of 
the'missionaries  through  the  disaster  at  the  Dalle  of 
the  Bead, 

Leaving  the  missionaries  located  at  Vancouver, 
there  to  return  thanks  to  God  for  having  preserved 


bZ  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

them  through  their  long  and  arduous  journey,  let  us 
glean  from  contemporaneous  history  a  sketch  of  Fort 
Vancouver  as  it  then  existed.  We  copy  from  ''The 
Oregon  Territory"  by  Rev.  C.  G.  Mcolay,  and  issued 
in  London  in  1846.  Describing  the  Forts  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  that  writer  says  : — 

Of  all  the  Forts,  Vancouver  is  now  the  principal ;  here 
Dr.  M'Loughlin,  the  governor  of  the  territory,  resides,  and 
here  is  the  principal  depot  of  the  Company,  in  which  all 
the  goods  brought  from  England  and  furs  collected  in  the 
interior  are  warehoused ;  it  is  indeed  the  emporium  of 
trade  from  Kamschatka  to  California. 

The  fort  is  in  shape  a  parallelogram,  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  yards  long  by  a  hundred  and  fifty  broad,  enclosed 
by  a  sort  of  wooden  wall,  made  of  pickets  or  large  beams 
firmly  fixed  in  the  ground,  and  closely  fitted  together,  twen- 
ty feet  high,  and  strongly  secured  on  the  inside  by  but- 
tresses ;  the  area  is  cultivated,  and  surrounded  by  houses 
and  ofiices,  the  governor's  residence  being  in  the  centre  : 
there  is  a  chapel  and  school.  The  officers  of  the  Company 
dine  together  in  the  common  hall,  the  governor  presiding  ; 
but  it  has  been  remarked,  that  the  absence  of  their  wives 
and  the  females  of  the  establishment  from  the  table  does 
not  contribute  to  the  refinement  of  manners.  There  is  also 
a  public  "batchelors'  hall,"  where  after  dinner  the  time  is 
passed  in  conversation  and  smoking,  but  the  latter  is  said 
to  be  declining  as  a  habit.  The  hospitality  of  Fort  Van- 
couver and  its  governor  has  been  highly  praised,  especially 
by  American  writers,  it  should  seem  not  without  good  rea- 
son ;  and  the  general  feeling  of  regret  at  leaving  the  society 
it  affords  speaks  much  in  praise  of  the  officers  of  the  Com- 
pany, not  less  than  the  good  cheer  of  the  governor. 

Beyond  the  fort  are  large  granaries  and  storehouses ;  and 
before  it,  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  is  the  village  in  which 
the  servants  of  the  Company  reside;  in  all,  the  residents 
may  be  seven  hundred.     In  the  village  is  an  hospital. 

Attached  to  Fort  Vancouver  is  a  magnificent  farm,  of 
more  than  three  thousand  acres ;  saw-mils  cutting  many 
hundred  thousand  feet  per  annum  ;  grist  mills,  and  every 
other  requisite  for  commerce  and  agriculture.  Vessels  of 
fourteen  feet  draught  can  come  abreast  of  it  at  low  water 
(says  Lieutenant  Wilkes),  and  at  the  store  of  the  Company 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  53 

eveiy  necessary  can  l)e  supplied  as  cheap  as  in  the  United 
States  ;  this  however  must  be  taken  with  considerable  lim- 
itation, and  refers  probably  to  the  English  goods  in  par- 
ticular. From  hence  the  Company  carries  on  a  lucrative 
trade  with  California,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  the  Rus- 
sian settlements,  besides  its  exports  to  England. 

The  Company's  servants  are  principally  Scotch  and  Ca- 
nadians, but  there  is  also  a  great  number  of  half-breeds, 
children  of  the  Company's  servants  and  Indian  women. 
These  are  generally  a  well  featured  race,  ingenious,  ath- 
letic, and  remarkably  good  horsemen  ;  the  men  make  ex- 
cellent trappers,  and  the  women,  who  frequently  marry 
officers  of  the  Company,  make  clever,  faithiul,  and  atten- 
tive wives;  they  are  ingenious  needlewomen,  and  good 
managers.  They  frequently  attend  their  husbands  on  their 
trading  excursions,  in  which  thii^^  are  most  useful  ;  they 
retain  some  pecuharities  of  their  Indian  ancestors,  among 
which  is  the  not  unfrequent  use  of  the  mocassin,  though 
usually  it  is  made  of  ornamented  cloth,  instead  of  deer  skin. 
The  approach  to  this  the  principal  establishment  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  in  the  west  gives  the  stranger  a 
high  idea  of  its  prosperity  and  importance;  the  thickly 
peopled  village,  the  highly  cultivated  fields,  the  absence  of 
all  guards  and  defences,  the  guns  of  the  fort  having  long 
since  been  dismounted,  the  civilized  appearance  of  its  in- 
terior, and  the  activity  and  energy  which  prevails, — the 
noble  river,  here  seventeen  hundred  yards  wide,  on  which 
perhaps  some  of  the  Company's  vessels,  brigs,  or  steamers, 
well  appointed,  manned,  and  armed,  are  at  anchor,  and 
these  are  heightened  in  the  effect  by  the  magnificent  sce- 
nery by  which  it  is  surrounded  ;  the  noble  woods  flanking 
the  mighty  stream,  and  backed  by  lofty  mountains,  the 
snow-covered  peaks  of  Mount  Hood  and  Mount  St.  Helens 
towering  over  all ;  while  the  wild  flowers  and  fruits  in  their 
season  carpet  the  ground  in  wild  luxuriance. 

This  fort  was  established  by  Governor  Simpson  in  1824, 
and  its  present  importance  justified  his  selection  of  its  site. 
Here  is,  and  doubtless  will  continue,  the  chief  trade  of 
Western  America,  until  the  increasing  demands  of  com- 
merce and  national  industry  transport  it  to  the  shores  of 
Juan  de  Fuca  Straits  and  Admiralty  Inlet ;  yet  even  then, 
as  the  only  naval  and  mercantile  station  in  South  Oregon, 
and  as  receiving  the  trade  of  all  branches  of  the  Columbia, 
and  having  immediate  and  rapid  connection  with  Puget's 


54  sketches'    of     the 

Sound  by  the  Cowelitz  and  Nisqually,  and  with  Gray's 
Harbour  by  the  Cbikelis— thus  connecting  the  great  fresh- 
water with  the  great  salt-water  navigation  ;  the  Columbia 
with  the  Strait  of  Fuca — it  will  occupy  only  the  second 
place.  Sir  H.  Pelly,  in  his  letter  to  Lord  Glenelg,  in  1837, 
gives  this  account  of  the  state  of  the  Company  : — The  Com- 
pany now  occupy  the  country  between  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains and  the  Pacific  by  six  permanent  establishments  on 
the  coast,  sixteen  in  the  interior  country,  besides  several 
migratory  and  hunting  parties,  and  they  maintain  a  ma- 
rine of  six  armed  vessels  and  a  steam  vessel  on  the  coast. 
Their  principal  establishment  and  depot  for  the  trade  of  the 
xoast  and  interior  is  situated  ninety  miles  from  the  Pacific, 
on  the  northern  bank  « >f  the  Columbia,  and  called  Van- 
couver, in  honor  of  that  celebrated  navigator ;  in  the 
neighborhood  they  have  large  pasture  and  grain  farms, 
affording  most  abundantly  every  species  of  agricultural 
produce,  and  maintaining  large  herds  of  stock  of  every  de- 
scription :  These  have  been  gradually  established,  and  it  is 
the  intention  of  the  Company  still  further  not  only  to  aug- 
ment and  increase  them,  and  to  establish  an  export  trade  in 
wool,  tallow,  hides,  and  other  things,  but  to  encourage  the 
settlement  of  their  retired  servants  and  the  immigrants 
under  their  protection  ;  and  he  asserts  further,  that  the 
soil,  climate,  and  other  circumstances  of  the  country,  are 
as  much,  if  not  more  adapted  to  agricultural  purposes  than 
any  other  spot  in  America. 


Iiiterestiug  Letter   from  Rev.  jWodesee   I><'«ui>,  to  Stev.  V,  F. 
Cazeaii,  Sec'ly,  4|uel>ec. 

Vancouver,  Oregon,  March  1st,  1839. 
Rev.  Dear  Sir  : 

When  I  was  appointed  to  the  mission  of  Ore- 
gon in  1837,  together  with  the  Very  Rev.  Father  Blan- 
CHET,  the  passage  of  the  missionaries  from  Montreal  to 
Fort  Vancouver,  a* toss  the  American  continent  and  in  the 
canoes  of  the  Hon.  ^  Hudson  Bay  Company,  met  obstacles 
which  prevented  their  immediate  departure. 

Bishop  Provencher,  who  stood  in  need  of  a  missionary, 
secured  a  passage  for  me  to  Red  River.  This  was  two  thou- 
sand one  hundred  miles  saved  in  m}^  journey  to  Oregon.  I 
was  afraid,  however,  that  when  I  should  have  acquired  a 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  55 

knowledge  of  the  language  of  the  Santemtx,  I  would  not 
be  allowed  to  proceed  on  my  journey  if  an  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself;  but  Divine  Providence  took  all  difficulties 
out  of  the  way,  for  as  socm  as  the  missionaries  for  Oregon 
had  obtained  a  passage,  Bishop  Provencher  allowed  me  to 
proceed,  and  I  had  the  happiness  of  meeting  with  the  Very 
Eev.  Father  BLxiNciiET  on  Red  River  in  1838,  on  his  pas- 
sage to  Oregon.  Leaving  to  the  Vicar  General  the  recital 
of  the  tales  of  his  trip  from  St.  Boniface  to  Fort  Vancouver, 
I  will  give  you  an  account  of  my  ministry  :  For  the  last 
three  months  this  Fort  has,  with  the  Canadians  and  Indians 
here,  occupied  all  my  time.  I  have  found  here  some  con- 
solation, God  has  given  me  the  grace  to  learn  the  Chinook 
language  in  a  short  time.  It.  is  in  this  jargon  that  I  in- 
struct the  women  and  children  of  the  white  settlers,  and 
the  savages  who  come  to  see  me  from  far  and  near.  I  am 
so  busy  from  morning  till  night  that  I  can  scarcely  find 
time  to  write  the  following  concerning  the  savages  who  are 
settled  on  the  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  I  would  ask 
therefore,  all  your  indulgence  ;  as  I  merely  passed  through 
the  different  Indian  tribes  scattered  along  tlie  Columbia 
from  the  Rocky  mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  fol- 
lowing sketch  must  of  necessity  be  very  imperfect;  I  hope 
however,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  make  known  to  you  those 
divers  tribes,  under  the  most  interesting  aspect — that  of 
religion.  My  recent  arrival  in  this  country  and  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  my  occupations  do  not  permit  me  to  give  more 
than  a  faint  sketch.  Unwilling  as  I  am  to  expose  m^^self  to 
the  danger  of  giving  false  impressions  and  wrong  informa- 
tion, I  will  wait  until  I  may  have  acquired  a  more 
thorough  kno'wledge  of  those  unknown  tribes. 

Lake  House. 

The  first  savages  we  saw  are  called  the  Lake  Indians, 
These  first  of  the  large  fold  committed  to  our  care  corre- 
spond well  to  the  description  given  us  of  them  by  the  Cana- 
dians, who  had  been  for  some  time  telling  them  of  their 
own  chiefs — the  black  robes — and  had  given  them  the  hope 
that  some  of  them  would  arrive  and  give  them  a  knowledge 
of  the  Master  of  life,  He  who  made  them,  "Kaekouten 
tshouten.''  We  can  easily  imagine  with  what  joy  they  re- 
ceived those  chiefs  for  whom  they  had  been  so  long  waiting. 
F®r  seventeen  days  we  remained  at  the  House  of  the  Lakes 
and  labored  in  this  new  vineyard,  which  promised  from  the 


56  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

very  beginning  of  oar  visit  to  bear  abundant  fruit.  After 
the  first  instruction  on  God  and  his  attributes,  on  the  Cre- 
ation, the  fall  of  Adam  and  the  necessity  of  baptism,  those 
who  had  little  children  hastened  to  bring  them  for  baptism, 
to  have  their  hearts  made  good.  They  regretted  that  they 
themselves  could  not  receive  the  same  happiness.  These 
Indians  desire  nothing  more  than  to  know  God  and  the  re- 
ligion that  leads  to  Him  :  They  anxiously  long  for  the  mo- 
ment when  a  priest  may  come  among  them  to  teach  them 
the  holy  truths  and  maxims  of  our  divine  religion.  It  was 
not  without  grief  that  these  poor  people  saw  the  missionaries 
leave  them  ;  and  on  our  part  we  were  not  indifferent  to  the 
expression  of  their  warm  affection.  ^'Quomod  audient 
Sine  prcedicante . ' ' 

COLVILLE. 

In  this  fort  we  saw  Indians  belonging  to  five  different 
tribes,  who  had  come  from  the  neighborhood  to  meet  us. 
A  barge  which  had  preceeded  us  down  the  river,  had  brought 
them  the  news  that  the  long  expected  chiefs  were  coming. 
Hardly  could  they  perceive  the  barge  in  which  we  w^re, 
than  they  all,  men,  ^vomen  and  children,  hastened  to  the 
shore  with  joy  depicted  in  their  countenances,  to  bid  us 
welcome.  It  was  not  without  emotion  we  saw  this  dem- 
onstration of  their  gratification.  We  had  to  tear  ourselves 
away  from  them,  to  accompany  the  commandant  to  the 
fort.  The  chiefs  of  the  Chaiidieres,  Cinpoils,  SpoJcan^ 
P/s/roowsand  of  the  Okanagaa  with  some  of  their  people, 
received  such  instruction  as  our  time  would  allow  us  to  give 
them.  All  gathered  together  in  a  large  house  given  to 
them  for  the  occasion  and  waited  in  silence  for  the  moment 
when  we  should  speak  to  them.  With  what  attentive 
eagerness  they  listened  to  the  Word  of  God,  which  being 
translated  to  them  by  the  chiefs,  acquired  a  new  force  and 
an  additional  weight.  We  forgot  nothing  that  was  calcula- 
ted to  fortify  them  in  the  principles  of  the  Catholic  religion; 
thus,  in  a  short  time,  we  have  scattered  some  of  the  seed  of 
the  divine  word,  and  we  have  the  sweet  hope,  that  accord- 
ing to  God's  merciful  designs  it  will  bear  fruit  in  this  por- 
tion of  the  human  family  so  long  neglected.  We  easily  can 
see  what  progress  Christianity  would  make  among  tribes  so 
well  disposed,  h\xi  fides  ex  audltu. 

The  five  tribes  mentioned  above,  the  Lake  [ndians  and 
the  Flat  Heads,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  later,  speak  Ian- 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   I A   OREGON.  57 

guages  so  similar  that  they  readil}^  understand  each  other  ; 
it  would  be  enough  to  know  one  of  these  languages  to 
speak  all.  The  Lake  Indians  and  the  Chaiidieres  are  the 
most  numerous  of  all. 

Okanagan. 
During  the  twenty-four  hours  that  we  remained  at  this 
post  w^e  became  acquainted  with  the  Indians  who  frequented 
it ;  they  are  tolerably  numerous.  We  may  say  of  them 
what  we  have  said  of  those  mentioned  ab(;ve  ;  to  make  fer- 
vent Christians  of  them  it  would  suffice  to  teach  them  the 
Christian  doctrine.  Nothing  more  is  needed.  Between 
Okanagan  and  Walla  Walla  we  have  seen  only  a  few  In- 
dian huts.  For  want  of  interpreters  we  could  hardly  make 
ourselves  understood. 

Walla  Walla. 

Some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Cayuse  tribe  had  come  together 
at  this  post  to  see  the  chiefs  of  the  French  (Canadians). 
All  over,  the  same  zeal  and  the  same  eagerness  to  know 
God,  the  same  joy  and  satisfaction  in  seeing  the  black  robes 
of  whom  they  had  heard  so  much.  Without  being  Chris- 
tians, they  firmly  believe  the  truths  of  the  religion  Ave  ex- 
plained to  them  by  the  w^ay.  They  speak  the  language  of 
the  Nez  Perces  which  is  altogether  different  from  that  of  the 
Chaudieres  and  of  the  Flat  Heads  ;  they  can  converse  with 
those  of  Walla  Walla  whose  language  is  spoken  as  far  as 
Des  Chutes.  Somewhat  below  are  the  Dalles  Indians,  who 
can  speak  with  those  of  Des  Chutes  and  of  the  Cascades, 
twenty  miles  distant  from  Vancouver.  A  great  many  of 
the  Indians  speak  the  Chinook  jargon  of  which  there  will 
be  mention  later, 

Vancouver. 
The  Chinook  Indians  are  scattered  along  the  Columbia 
river  from  this  fort  down  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Before  the 
year  1830  they  w^ere  the  most  numerous  tribe  inhabiting  the 
banks  of  this  river.  This  rendered  them  proud  and 
haughty.  Beside  this,  they  were  rich  :  but  about  this  time 
came  the  disastrous  malady  known  by  the  name  of  fever- 
and-ague  which  carried  a  great  many  to  their  graves.  In 
the  heat  of  the  fever  they  would  leap  into  the  river  in  the 
hope  of  relieving  them  of  their  suffering,  but  they  found 
death  as  quick  as  it  w^as  cei'tain.  It  was  found  necessary 
to  burn  a  whole  village  where  the  dead  bodies  were  piled 


58  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

one  upon  another ;  for  the  survivors  were  not  capable  of 
burying  their  dead.  This  calamity  which  God  sent  these 
Indians  on  account  of  their  abominable  lives,  came  to  visit 
them  every  year,  and  always  made  some  of  them  its  victims. 
We  are  told  they  reformed  their  lives,  except  those  who 
live  near  the  fort,  who  are  wdcked  and  demoralized  on  ac- 
count of  their  communication  with  the  whites.  They  make 
a  shameful  traffic  in  crime  ;  they  have  female  slaves  whom 
they  hire  at  a  price  to  the  first  who  asks  them.  They  have 
seen  us  and  see  us  yet  with  an  indifference  that  makes  us 
regret  the  good  Indians  of  the  Upper  river;  but  the  part  of 
the  tribe  situated  not  far  from  fort  George,  (now  Astoria) 
down  the  river,  is  not  as  depraved,  which  gives  us  the  hope 
of  being  able  to  Christianize  them,  with  the  assistance  of 
Him  who  wills  that  no  one  should  perish,  but  that  all 
should  come  to  the  truth.  At  the  very  momcnit  I  write 
this,  I  learn  that  their  chief,  with  a  great  many  of  his  men, 
hasjust  arrived  to  see  the  French  priests.  A  few  days  ago 
he  had  sent  deputies  to  know  whether  they  would  instruct 
his  Indians. 

The  real  language  of  the  Chinook  is  almost  unlearnable  ; 
it  differs  entirely  from  that  of  all  the  neighboring  tribes  ; 
but  they  speak  the  jargon  aJso,  which  is  used  as  the  medium 
between  the  Canadians  and  the  w'hites  in  general  and  the 
Indians  who  are  settled  near  the  fort.  The  jargon  is  com- 
posed of  words  taken  from  different  languages,  disfigured  in 
their  orthography  and  pronunciation.  It  is  all  borrowed 
from  different  languages  which  makes  it  easy  to  acquire. 
It  possesses  only  from  four  hundred  to  five  hundred  words. 
It  has  no  participle  :  One  and  the  same  word  has  several 
meanings.  For  instance  :  Wawa,  means  to  speak,  to  tell, 
to  answer,  to  ask  :  Komtaks,  means  to  know,  to  learn,  to 
comprehend,  to  hear,  to  think  and  to  believe  ;  thus,  by 
adding  Nawitika,  certainly;  we  have,  Nawitika  Naika 
kamtax  Sahaletaye,  I  believe  in  God  :  hence  it  follows 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  translate  French  expressions  into  it. 
We  have  to  use  paraphrases.  For  the  last  month^  I  know 
this  jargon  sufficiently  well  to  give  instruction  and' to  teach 
the  Catechism  without  being  obliged  to  write  them  down. 
I  have  translated  the  Sign  of  the  Cross  and  the  way  to  give 
one's  heart  to  God.  I  cannot  send  the  translation  of  the 
other  prayers,  as  they  are  not  quite  finished.  A  good  many 
of  the  Cascade  Indians  who  understand  this  jargon,  and 
some  of  the  Klickatats,  attend  the  catechism   and  evening 


CA'rHOLIC       CHUIUJH       IN       OREGON.  59 

prayers.  In  order  to  impreiss  deeper  upon  their  memory  the 
truths  contained  in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  I  have  tried  to 
arrange  it  to  a  certain  air.  The  Indians  love  music  very 
much  ;  they  know  nearly  by  heart  the  Canticles  that  vvere 
sung  at  the  Mass  on  Sunday  last.  I  expect  to  learn  the 
Klickatat  language,  which  will  be  of  great  use  ininstrui.^ting 
this  tribe  and  those  of  Des  Chutes  and  of  the  Cascades,  who 
understand  it  well.  The  greatest  difficulty  in  learning  the 
language  spoken  on  this  side  of  the  mountahis,  consists  in 
the  pronunciation  which  is  such,  that  we  are  many  times 
at  a  loss  to  find  characters  to  represent  it,  as  in  Sahaletaye, 
God,  hihkty  one.  Time  does  i.ot  allow  me  to  expatiate  on 
this  matter. 

The  Indians  of  Cov/litz.''' 
The  Indians  of  Cowlitz  love  with  r^verenc^  the  mission- 
aries who  are  established  among  them.  They  have  a  lan- 
guage of  their  own,  different  from  that  of  the  Chinook  In- 
dians. They  also  speak  jargon.  They  are  tolerably  nu- 
merous but  poor.  They  give  us  hopes  of  their  conversion. 
After  the  visit  of  the  Vicar  General,  they  said  to  the  settlers 
of  Cowhtz  :  "The  priests  are  going  to  stay  with  us  ;  we  are 
poor,  and  have  nothing  to  give  them  :  Tktkoiciam  riesa/lUt 
ivaik  ekita  nesaika:  We  want  to  do  something  for 
them,  we  will  work,  make  fences,  and  whatever  they  wish 
us  to  do."  Several  of  them  came  to  see  the  missionaries  at 
Vancouver,  and  expressed  the  most  ardent  desire  to  have 
them  come  and  remain  with  them. 

Wallamette  Indians. 
The  Vicar  General  who  passed  a  ra<mth  among  the 
Canadians  established  on  this  river,  could  not  speak  highly 
of  the  Indians  he  had  seen— the  /ra/«{poo/a5.  They  were 
very  numerous  before  the  fevers,  but  are -now  reduced  to  a 
small  number,  which  keeps  decreasing  every  day.  They 
are  poor  and  lazy;  thieving  may  be  considered  as  their  pre- 
dominant passion.  They  wish  to  keep  away  from  the  mis- 
sionaries as  much  as  the  Cowlitz  Indians  wish  to  be  near 
them.  Hardly  any  of  them  were  seen  by  the  Vicar  General 
at  the  chapel  assisting  at  the  instruction.  But  it  seems  we 
might  succeed  better  among  the  different  tribes  c»f  this  na- 
tion who  are  settled  on  the  tributaries  of  the  Upper   Wal- 


*Cow'litz  is  a  corruption  of  the  original  Indian  word  Co-wil4tZ 
nsed  by  the  early  settlprs. 


60  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

lametle.  From  these  they  take  their  different  names. 
I  learn  that  there  are  fourteen  or  fifteen  different  dialects 
spoken  by  these  tribes  ;  they  are  not  so  essentially  different 
but  that  they  can  understand  each  other.  Moreover,  the 
Chinook  jarfijon  is  spoken  among  the  Kalapooias. 

Northern  Indians. 

In  fort  Okanagan  we  had  information  of  a  great  many 
Indiana  who  are  settled  at  a  great  distance  from  the  Eocky 
Mountains,  toward  the  north.  Some  Canadians,  i)i  the 
service  of  the  Hon .  Hudson  Bay  Co.,  in  those  quarters, 
told  us  that  priests  would  do  well  among  them,  although 
they  are  not  civilized  as  those  of  the  Columbia.  We  will  let 
them  know  the  object  of  our  arrival  in  this  country,  but  we 
cannot  send  word  to  them  before  next  summer. 

The  Nez  Percez  tribe  is  very  numerous.  They  are  mostly 
settled  on  large  prairies,  not  far  from  the  mountains  towards 
the  north.  The  Canadians  who  live  among  them  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  the  beaver  fur,  have  for  a  Iom  time 
spoken  to  them  of  the  black  robes — the  chiefs  of  the  French. 
Naturally  good,  mild,  and  lull  of  respect  for  the  prayer  to 
the  Master  of  life,  they  anxiously  desire  that  priests  may 
come  to  instruct  them,  and  make  known  to  them  the  re- 
ligion of  the  French.  They  have  even  imagined  that  they 
could  buy  one,  and  have  enquired  of  the  Canadians  how 
many  horses  and  beavers  it  would  take  to  have  one  stay 
with  them,  saying,  that  **he  would  want  for  nothing,  and 
that  the  best  of  the  spoils  of  the  chase  would  be  given  to 
him.''  Good  discipline  and  morals  reign  among  them. 
May  we  not  here  exclaim  with  the  Saviour  of  the  world  : 
3fessis  quidem  multay  operarii  autem  pauci.  What  can 
two  naissionaries  do  among  so  many  tribes  but  desire  that 
the  Lord  may  send  missionary  priests  to  show  them  the 
way  to  heaven,  for  which  they  had  been  created,  and  to 
tell  them  that  their  souls  are  the  price  of  the  blocnl  of  the 
Saviour.  Rogate  ergo  dominum  niessis  iff  mittat  opera- 
rlos  in  messern  suam. 

Receive,  Eev.  Dear  Sir, 

The  assurance  of  my  esteem, 

M.  DEMERS, 
Missiona ry  Priest  of  (>reg< )n . 


catholic     church     in     oregon.  6l 

First  Mass  at  Fort  Yancouvp:r.  Condition  of  the 
Country. 

November  25tli.,  1838,  was  beautiful  as  a  summer 
clay.  It  being  Sunday,  preparations  were  made  in 
the  school  house  for  the  celebration  of  the  first  Mass 
ever  said  in  lower  Oregon.  The  building  was  too 
small  to  contain  the  crowd  composed  of  the  gentle- 
men, ladies  and  Catholics  of  the  outside  camp.  A 
solemn  High  Mass  of  thanksgiving  was  sung  by  the 
Yicar  General  who  gave  an  instruction  suitable  for 
the  occasion.  Vespers  also  were  chanted  in  the  af- 
ternoon. The  divine  service  of  that  day  was  moving, 
even  to  tears,  as  many  of  the  Canadians  had  nOi 
heard  Mass  for  ten,  fifteen  and  even  twenty  years. 
That  day  was  one  for  them  that  would  never  be  for- 
gotten. They  saw  at  last  that  they  had  priests 
among  them,  to  instruct  themselves,  their  wives  and 
their  children,  to  administer  to  them  the  sacraments 
and  give  them  at  the  last  and  awful  hour  the  conso- 
lations of  the  Holy  Church.  In  all  this  they  felt 
happy  :  and  giving  thanks  to  God,  they  were  willing 
and  ready  to  obey  their  ]3astors  faithfully. 

It  may  be  well  to  take  a  view  of  the  country  in  re- 
lation to  the  Indian  tribes,  the  servants  of  the  Hud- 
son Bay  Co.  and  Catholic  and  Protestant  settlers,  in 
order  to  have  a  correct  idea  of  the  condition  of  things 
in  the  mission  entrusted  to  their  care.  Their  mission 
extended  from  California  (42^^)  to  the  Northern  gla- 
cial sea,  between  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  Indian  tribes  were  numerous,  scat- 
tered all  over  the  country,  speaking  a  multitude  of 
divers  and  difficult  tongues,  and  addicted  to  polygamy 


62  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

and  all  the  vices  of  paganism.  The  servants  of  the 
H.  B.  Co.  in  active  service  in  its  28  forts  for  fur 
trade,  were  in  great  majority  Catholics  ;  so  also  v^ere 
the  four  families  settled  in  Cowlitz,  and  the  26  estab- 
lished in  the  Wallamette  valley,  with  their  wives 
and  children.  Many  of  the  servants  and  settlers  had 
forgotten  their  prayers  and  the  religious  principles 
they  had  received  in  their  youth.  The  women  they 
had  taken  for  their  wives  were  pagans,  or  baptized 
without  sufficient  knowledge.  Their  children  were 
raised  in  ignorance.  One  may  well  imagine  that  in 
many  places,  disorders,  rudeness  of  morals  and 
indecency  of  practiceB,  answered  to  that  state  of 
ignorance. 

There  were  also  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Wal- 
lamette some  Protesto.nt  settlers,  and  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  about  30  Protestant  ministers, 
with  their  numerous  attendants,  their  wives  and  their 
children.  The  MethoHlip.ts  had  two  missions,  one  in 
the  Wallamette  valley,  a::d  the  other  at  the  Dalles. 
The  Presbyterians  were  established  at  Wailatpu 
among  the  Walla  Wallag,  at  Lapwai  among  the  Nez 
Perces.,  and  on  the  Spokan  river.  Besides  these,  the 
H.  B.  Co.  had  its  own  chaplain  at  Vancouver  for  two 
years.  These  ministers  v/ere  zealous,  making  efforts 
and  using  all  means  posBible  to  gain  converts  to 
their  sects. 

As  to  the  Catholic  settlers  and  their   families,    al- 
though considerably  numerous,  they  were   not   only 
without  any  minister  of  their  faith  to  teach  them  and 
their  families  the  Catholic  doctrine,  but  were   more- 
/over  exposed  to  the    most   seducing  temptations   of 


CATHOLIC       CHIFKCII       IT^       OREGON.  03 

perversion:  for,  if  on  the  one  hand,  they  were  de- 
prived of  all  the  means  necessary  to  practice  the 
worship  commanded  by  their  faith  and  claimed  by 
conscience,  on  the  other  hand,  the  practice  of  their 
separated  brethren  and  the  exhortations  of  the  min- 
isters, were  immediately  at  hand,  as  no  pains 
were  spared  and  nothing  neglected  to  induce  them 
to  join  the  sects. 

Rev.  Mr.  Beaver,  who  arrived  from  England  at 
Fort  Vancouver  as  a  chaplain,  in  1836,  was  anxious 
to  bring  the  Catholics  of  the  fort  to  his  Sunday  ser- 
vice ;  but  he  was  checked  by  the  good  Dr.  McLaugh- 
lin; nevertheless,  he  renewed  his  efforts  after  the  Dr. 
left  for  England.  And  strange  to  say,  a  report  came 
later  that  a  list  containing  the  names  of  Catholics 
begging  Mr.  Beaver  to  attend  them,  had  appeared 
in  one  of  the  newspapers  in  London.  No  doubt 
this  was  a  forged  trick:  but  it  is  certain  that  he 
joined  with  the  Methodists  in  saying  :  * 'No  need  of 
priests;  I  suffice  here,  and  the  Methodists  in  the 
Wallamette  valley.''  As  for  the  Methodist  ministers 
we  have  seen  before,  they  were  visiting  the  French 
settlers,  had  succeeded  in  bringing  some  of  them  to 
their  Sunday  meetings,  baptized  some  women  and 
performed  marriages.  This  being  so,  one  may  under- 
stand why  the  grant  of  passage  by  the  H.  B.  Co.  met 
with  so  much  opposition.  The  first  request  of  the 
Bishop  of  JuliopoUs  w^as  refused.  On  a  second  ap- 
plication it  was  granted  for  two  priests  in  the  canoes 
of  1837,  but  was  aftei-wards  withdrawn,  for  the  rea- 
son, no  doubt,  of  not  favoring  an  establishment  on  a 
foreign  ground,  but  also   in  order  to    give   the  Pro- 


64  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

testant  ministers  more  time  to  strengthen  their  posi- 
tion and  to  make  proselytes.  Hence,  of  the  two 
missionaries  appointed  to  start  in  1837,  only  one  was 
allowed  to  reach  Rtd  River  that  same  year.  Such 
was  the  situation  of  the  country  in  1838.  Neverthe- 
less, in  spite  of  all  combinations  and  obstacles, 
the  two  Catholic  missionaries,  ' ' Deo  juvante"  arrived 
safe,  and  were  lodged  in  the  room  which  Mr.  Beaver 
and  lady  had  left  three  weeks  before  for  England. 

From  the  foregoing,  it  is  easy  to  understand  what 
the  Missionaries  had  to  do.  They  were  to  warn 
their  flock  against  the  dangers  of  seduction,  to  de- 
stroy the  false  impression  already  received,  to  len- 
lighten  and  confirm  the  faith  of  the  wavering  and 
deceived  consciences,  to  bring  back  to  the  practice  of 
religion  and  virtue  all  who  had  forsaken  them  for 
long  years;  or  who,  raised  in  infidelity,  had  never 
known  nor  practiced  any  of  them.  They  were  to 
teach  the  men  their  duties,  the  women  and  children 
their  prayers  and  catechism,  to  baptize  them,  bless 
their  unions,  and  establish  good  order  and  holiness 
of  life  everywhere.  In  a  word,  they  were  to  run 
after  the  sheep  when  they  were  in  danger.  Thence 
their  passing  so  often  from  one  post  to  another — for 
neither  the  white  people  nor  the  Indians  claimed 
their  assistance  in  vain.  And  it  was  enough  for 
them  to  hear  that  some  false  prophet  had  penetrated 
into  a  place,  or  intended  visiting  some  locality,  to 
induce  the  Missionaries  to  go  there  immediately, 
to  defend  the  faith  and  prevent  error  from  propaga- 
ting itself. 

In  the  mean  time  let  no  one  imagine  that   all  this 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  65 

was  effected  by  encliantment;  no,  on  the  contrary, 
they  had  to  make  many  journeys,  and  had  to  undergo 
much  pain  and  patience  in  order  to  caution  the  flock 
against  the  dangers  of  seduction  and  error,  to  en- 
lighten the  ignorant,  to  recall  wavering  consciences, 
and  bring  back  to  the  true  fold  the  lost  sheep.  One 
may  well  understand  what  time  and  pains  were  re- 
quired to  come  so  far  and  that  after  having  succeed- 
ed, it  would  not  have  been  prudent  to  abandon  them 
too  soon  to  themselves.  This  said,  let  us  now  follow 
the  two  Missionaries  in  their  undertaking. 

Missions  to  various  places  and  among  the  Indians  in 
1838  AND  1839. 


Mission  at  Vancouver. — The  Mission  at  this  post 
lasted  four  months  'and  twenty  days,  (from  Nov.  24, 
1838  to  April  15,  1839)  without  interruption,  attend- 
ed by  the  two  missionaries,  save  nine  days  spent  by 
the  Vicar  G-eneral,  on  a  visit  to  Cowlitz,  and  34  for  his 
going  to  and  giving  the  mission  at  Wallamette.  The 
Catholics  of  the  place  did  not  remain  indifferent  to 
the  favor  afforded  them  to  have  the  promises  of  the 
Apostolic  labors  of  the  two  priests  ;  they  faithfully 
corresponded  to  the  grace.  The  Missionaries  took 
but  two  days  to  rest  from  their  long  and  tedious 
journey,  for,  the  fourth  and  fifth  day  after  their  ar- 
rival saw  them  at  work;  the  first,  in  favor  of  the  serv- 
ants and  their  families,  the  second,  in  favor  of  the 
ladies  and  their  children  of  the  Fort.  On  Monday 
the  26th,  they  were  invited  by  the  Goveritor  to  make 
a  visit  to  the  stores   and  depots   of  the   Company  in 

OF  THE 


66  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

the  Fort,  of  the  clerk's  office,  houses  of  the  Bour- 
geois, the  clerks  and  their  families.  On  Tuesday,  he 
accompanied  them  on  their  visit  to  the  village,  which 
lies  next  to  the  Fort  and  contains  the  houses  of  the 
servants  and  their  families.  The  census  made,  gave 
76  Catholics,  Canadians  and  Iroquois.  They  especial- 
ly took  the  names  of  the  men  and  women  who  were 
to  be  separated  before  being  married.  The  Indian 
population  on  the  shore  of  the  Columbia  and  neigh- 
borhood was  supposed  to  be  300  souls. 

The  holy  ministry  began  for  the  men  and  their 
families,  on  Tuesday  evening  by  gathering  them  in 
the  Fort,  on  that  day  and  henceforth,  in  regular 
meetings,  in  which,  after  the  evening  prayer,  made 
in  common,  a  pious  reading  was  made  and  some  sa- 
cred songs  were  sung  in  French  ;  a  practice  which 
continued  and  was  kept  with  the  greatest  satisfaction; 
in  consequence  of  which  the  whole  assembly  was 
soon  instructed  to  sing  the  first  couplet  of  50  Cantic- 
les, the  men  forming  one  choir,  and  the  women,  girls 
and  children  the  other ;  each  choir  singing  alter- 
nately after  the  1st,  2nd,  3rd,  &c.,  couplet  sung  by 
the  solus.  These  meetings  became  so  attractive  as 
to  draw,  on  many  occasions,  the  Bourgeois,  clerks 
and  their  families  to  enjoy  the  pleasant  and  harmoni- 
ous concerts.  The  Indians  themselves  did  not  re- 
main insensible  to  the  chaims  of  these  chants,  nor 
where  they  the  last  to  come  and  hear  them  in  large 
number,  sometimes  70  and  100.  On  Feb.  20th, 
1839,  there  were  140  assisting  at  the  evening  prayer. 

The  holy  work  began  for  the  ladies  and  little  girls 
of  the  Fort  on   Wednesday,    the   28th,  by   teaching 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IX   OREGON.  67 

them  their  prayers  and  catechism  in  French.  By 
persevering  in  this  holy  work,  many  of  them  soon  be- 
came able  to  say  the  Rosary,  a  holy  practice  of  de- 
votion in  honor  of  the  Immaculate  Mother  of  God, 
which  the  two  missionaries  established  in  Oregon 
from  the  beginning.  Rev.  M.  Demers,  who  made 
the  beads,  distributed  fifty  of  them  in  a  short  time. 
The  catechism  was  held  in  the  forenoon. 

The  afternoon  was  reserved  for  teaching  the  pray- 
ers and  holy  truths  to  the  Indian  women  and  chil- 
dren of  the  village,  in  order  to  prepare  them  for 
baptism.  The  difficulty  here  was  great,  as  they  had 
to  learn  these  prayers  in  French,  and  the  task  could 
not  be  completed  but  by  a  long  and  tedious  repetition 
of  them  for  weeks  and  months.  This  catechism  was 
frequented  by  sixty  women  and  girls,  and  eighteen 
little  boys. 

The  Indians  were  not  neglected;  they  were  gath- 
ered twice  a  day,  in  the  forenoon  and  in  the  evening. 
Rev.  M.  Demers,  who  had  learned  the  Chinook  Jar- 
gon in  three  or  four  weeks,  was  their  teacher.  Later, 
in  January,  having  translated  the  Sign  of  the  Cross 
the  LorcVs  Prayer  and  Hail  Mary,  into  that  idiom, 
he  taught  them  to  these  poor  Indians,  who  were 
much  pleased  to  learn  them.  In  February,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  composing  some  beautiful  canticles  in  the 
same  dialect  which  the  Indians,  as  well  as  the  men, 
women  and  children,  chanted  in  the  Church  with  the 
greatest  delight.  Thus  by  patience  and  constancy  in 
teaching,  the  Missionaries  were  pleased  to  see  that 
their  hard  labors  were  beginning  to  bear  some  fruits. 

The  forenoon  catechism  lasted  generally  from  8  to 


68  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

llj  o'clock;  tlie  afternoon  one  from  1  to  5,  and  some- 
times 6  o'clock.  The  interval  was  interspersed  with 
singing  Chinook  canticles,  teaching  catechism,  and 
some  relaxation.  While  Kev.  M.  Demers  was  in- 
structing the  Indians,  the  Vicar  General  taught  the 
Canadians,  and  gave  instruction  in  French  to  the 
boys  who  were  able  to  read  English,  so  that  by  such 
means,  some  of  them  were  soon  able  to  'assist  in 
teaching  the  prayers  and  catechism  to  others.  The 
Gregorian  chant  and  serving  at  mass  were  not  for- 
gotten; and  it  was  after  these  exercises  that  the  mis- 
sionaries heard  the  confessions  of  those  who  had  no 
time  to  come  during  the  day.  By  all  this  it  may  be 
seen  that  the  two  priests  were  far  from  being  idle. 

Remark  ABLE  Conversion   or  Dr.  John  McLaughlin, 


It  is  but  just  to  make  special  mention  of  the  im- 
portant services  which  Dr.  John  McLaughlin — though 
not  a  Catholic — has  rendered  to  the  French  Canadi- 
ans and  their  families,  during  the  fourteen  years  he 
was  governor  of  Fort  Vancouver.  He  it  was  who 
read  to  them  the  prayers  on  Sunday.  Besides  the 
English  school  kept  for  the  children  of  the  bourgeois, 
he  had  a  separate  one  maintained  at  his  own  expense, 
in  which  prayers  and  the  catechism  were  taught  in 
French  to  the  Catholic  women  and  children  on  Sun- 
days and  week  days,  by  his  orders.  He  also  encour- 
aged the  chant  of  the  canticles  in  which  he  was 
assisted  by  his  wife  and  daughter,  who  took  much 
pleasure  in  this  exercise.  He  visited  and  examined 
his  school  once  a  week,  which  was  already  formed  of 
several  good   scholars,   who   soon   learned    to   read 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  69 

French  and  became  of  great  help  to  the  priests.  He 
it  was,  who  saved  the  Catholics  of  the  Fort  and  their 
children  from  the  dangers  of  perv^ersion,  and  who, 
finding  the  log  church  the  Canadians  had  built,  a 
few  miles  below  Fairfield  in  1836,  not  properly  loca- 
ted, ordered  it  to  be  removed,  and  rebuilt  on  a  large 
prairie,  its  present  beautiful  site. 

To  that  excellent  man  was  our  holy  religion  in- 
debted for  whatever  morality  the  Missionaries  found 
at  Vancouver,  as  well  as  for  the  welfare  and  temporal 
advantages  the  settlers  of  the  Cowlitz  and  Wallamette 
valley  enjoyed  at  that  time.  At  the  time  the  two 
missionaries  arrived  Dr.  McLaughlin  was  absent,  but 
was  expected  to  return  in  the   following  September. 

The  good  work  of  that  upright  man  deserved  a 
reward;  he  received  it  by  being  brought  to  the  true 
Church  in  the  following  manner.  When  he  was  once 
on  a  visit  to  Fort  Nesqualy,  '*The  End  of  Contro- 
versy,"  written  by  Dr.  Milner,  fell  into  his  hands.  He 
read  it  with  avidity,  and  was  overcome  and  converted 
at  once.  On  his  return  to  Fort  Vancouver,  he  made 
his  abjuration  and  profession  of  faith  at  the  hands  of 
the  Vicar  General,  on  Nov.  18th,  1842.  He  made  his 
confession  and  had  his  marriage  blessed  on  the  same 
day;  and  prepared  himself  for  his  first  communion 
by  fasting  during  the  fi)ur  weeks  of  Advent,  which 
he  passed  on  his  claim  at  the  ''Wallamette  Falls," 
now  called  Oregon  City,  in  having  the  place  sur. 
veyed  into  blocks  and  lots.  Being  thus  prepared,  he 
made  his  first  communion  at  Fort  Vancouver,  at  mid- 
dight  mass  on  Christmas,  with  a  large  number  of  the 
faithful  women  and  servants  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co. 


70  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

Tiie  little  cliapel  was  then  full  of  white  people  and 
Indians;  it  was  beautifully  decorated  and  brilliantly 
illuminated;  the  plcwi  chant  was  grave,  the  chant  of 
canticles  of  Noel,  in  French  and  Chinook  jargon, 
alternately  by  the  two  choirs  of  men  and  women,  was 
impressive;  as  well  as  the  holy  performance  .around 
the  altar;  in  a  word,  it  was  captivating  and  elevating  to 
the  minds  of  the  faithful,  commemorating  the 
great  day  of  the  birth  of  our  Saviour.  It  was  on  such 
an  occasion  that  Hon.  Peter  H.  Burnett,  being  at  Van- 
couver in  1843,  and  attending  High  Mass  as  a  specta- 
tor, at  midnight  on  Christmas,  received  the  first  im- 
pression of  his  conversion,  as  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
face of  his  book  under  the  title  of  ''The  Path  whick 
led  a  Protestant  Lawyer  to  the  Catholic  Church.'' 

From  the  time  of  his  conversion  till  his  death  Dr. 
John  McLaughlin  shovved  himself  a  true  and  practi- 
cal christian,  and  a  worthy  member  of  the  holy 
Church;  never  missing  the  divine  service  of  Mass  and 
vespers  on  Sundays  and  holy  days;  going  to  the 
holy  table  nearly  monthly,  and  preaching  strongly 
by  word  and  example.  On  going  to  church  each 
Sunday  he  was  often  accompanied  by  some  Protes- 
tant friends;  one  of  them  inviting  him  to  go  and 
assist  at  the  service  of  their  church,  he  answered  him: 
^'No  sir,  I  go  to  the  church  that  teaches  truth,  but 
not  to  a  church  that  teaches  error.''  He  was  kind  to 
his  children  and  grandchildren,  his  son-in-law  fol- 
lowing his  example. 

He  was  born  in  the  district  of  Quebec,  Canada, 
and  died  at  his  residence  at  Oregon  City  on  Sept.  3d. 
1857,  aged  73  years;  fortified   with  all    the    consola- 


CA'^HOLIC      CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  71 

tions  of  the  Church,  after  a  lingering  illness  of  two 
years,  which  he  bore  with  christian  patience  and 
resignation,  about  three  months  before  the  return  of 
Archbishop  Blanchet  from  South  America  in  1847. 

Dr.  John  McLaughlin  was  the  father  of  the  orphans 
and  servants  of  the  H.  B.  Co.;  the  father  of  the 
French-Canadian  colonies  of  Cowlitz  and  Wallamette 
valley;  of  all  the  American  immigrants,  and  a  great 
benefactor  of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  hearing  of 
this  great  man,  the  Holy  Father,  Pope  Gregory  XVI. 
sent  him  the  insignia  of  the  knights  of  the  distin- 
guished order  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  which  Arch- 
bishop Blanchet  delivered  him  on  his  return  from 
Europe  in  August,  1857. 

Missionary  Labors  at  Fort  Vancouver. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  priests,  the  Lord's  day  had 
been  sanctified  by  regular  public  services,  consisting 
of  a  high  mass  with  an  instruction  in  the  forenoon, 
and  vespers  and  Sunday  school  in  the  afternoon :  th^ 
chant  at  mass  and  vespers  was  the  Gregorian,  for 
some  of  the  men  were  already  able  to  sing  the  Kyrie, 
Gloria,  Sanctus,  and  Agnus  Dei,  or  were  soon  able 
to  do  so.  The  chant  of  canticles  in  French  by  the 
choirs  of  men  and  w^omen,  as  aforesaid,  added  not  a 
little  to  the  solemnity  of  the  service.  The  large 
building  granted  for  the  purpose  was  generally  full 
of  Catholics,  among  whom  were  often  seen  a  number 
cf  non-Catholics. 

As  to  the  Protestant  service  on  Sunday,  which  was 
the  Episcopal  one,  it  was  held  in  the  large  hall 
of  the    Governor's    house  and    read  by    him.     The 


72  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

American  ministers  who  travelled  pretty  often  and 
were  always  lodged  and  politely  treated  by  the  Gov- 
ernor and  other  Bourgeois,  were  seldom  or  never  in- 
vited to  hold  the  Episcopalian  service  on  Sunday. 
Their  singing  with  their  wives  in  their  rooms  late  in 
the  evenings,  on  many  occasions,  w^as  the  means  of 
drawing  some  of  the  ladies  and  children  to  hear 
them. 

Christmas  Day,  which  in  1838  came  on  a  Tuesday, 
and  being  observed  as  a  general  holiday  by  the  Com- 
pany, the  men  had  a  chance  to  celebrate  it.  There 
were  two  low  masses  at  midnight  in  the  room  of  the 
priests  at  which  some  assisted.  The  high  mass, 
vespers  and  instruction  took  place  as  usual  on  Sun- 
day. The  music  which  accompanied  the  Gregorian 
chant  at  mass,  and  that  of  the  canticles  at  vespers  in 
place  of  the  anthems  after  the  Psalms,  rendered  the 
office  of  Christmas  more  solemn  than  usual;  so  that 
all  returned  home  well  pleased  and  contented. 

As  the  Company  used  to  send  over  the  Eocky 
Mountains  in  the  beginning  of  March  every  year,  an 
express  to  carry  its  papers  to  Canada,  the  Missionaries 
availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  send  to 
Quebec  the  histoiy  of  their  journey  from  Lachine  to 
Vancouver,  wdth  an  account  of  their  labors  during 
the  journey  and  since  their  arrival,  an  item  of  which, 
extending  to  March  1st  1839  was;  Baptisms,  309, 
Marriages,  61,  Sepultures,  9.  Out  of  the  309  bap- 
tisms, 175  were  made  on  the  journey  and  134  since 
their  arrival.  Out  of  the  175,  122  were  made  on  the 
east  and  53  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Oat    of    134,    74    were    from  the    Wallamette,    53 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   I!^   OREGON.  73 

from  Yancouver,  and  7  from  Cowlitz.  Of  the  61 
marriages,  25  were  from  the  Wallamette,  24  from 
Vancouver,  and  12  from  the  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

First  Yisit  to   Cowlitz   Mission. 

According  to  an  agreement  made  between  the 
Bishop  of  Juliopolis  and  Sir  George  Simpson,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.,  the  principal  station 
of  the  Catholic  Missionaries  was  being  fixed  at  the 
settlement  of  Cowlitz  river,  because  it  was  not,  like 
the  Wallamette  settlement,  on  a  ground  whose 
ownership  was  disputed  by  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  To  the  end,  therefore,  to  show  his 
willingness  to  carry  out  that  agreement,  and  order 
the  building  necessary  for  a  residence,  the  Vicar 
General  accompanied  by  Augustin  Eochon,  a  ser- 
vant brought  from  Canada,  left  Vancouver  on  Wed- 
nesday afternoon,  December  12th,  1838,  in  a  canoe 
paddled  by  four  Indians,  and  reached  the  Cowlitz 
settlement  on  Sunday,  the  16th,  at  10  a.  m.  The  first 
mass  ever  celebrated  at  that  place  was  said  on  that 
day,  and  another  one  on  Monday  in  the  house  of  Mr. 
Simon  Plamondon,  before  the  settlers  and  their 
families,  who  were  much  pleased  to  learn  that  the 
I)riests  were  to  reside  aitiong  them.  Having  visited 
the  place  and  chosen  for  the  mission  a  piece  of  land 
of  clear  prairie  of  640  acres,  strewed  only  with  some 
rare  borders  of  timber,  he  left  his  servant  there  to 
square  the  timber  for  a  house  and  barn,  and  to  make 
rails  for  fences. 

The  Cowlitz  settlement  has  been  five  years  in  ex- 
istence.    It  is  on  the  west    side  of    the    river,    in    a 


74  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

prairie,  six  miles  long  and  two  miles  broad,  bounded 
on  the  east  by  the  river,  and  on  the  west  by  a  large 
quantity  of  timber.  It  is  a  very  fine  location  for  a 
colony.  Its  soil  is  rich  and  fertile;  grass,  fishing, 
and  game  are  in  abundance.  The  situation  is  beauti- 
ful: in  the  northwest  appears  Mount  Eainier,  and 
Mt.  St.  Helen  on  the  east,  whose  high  peak  is  always 
covered  with  snow.  The  Hudson  Bay  Co.  has  a 
farm  there  on  which  a  large  number  of  men  are  em- 
ployed in  farming  on  a  large  scale.  The  young  col- 
ony was  then  composed  of  only  four  Canadian  far- 
mers, whom  Dr.  McLaughlin  had  discharged  from 
further  long  services.  The  Cowlitz  river  runs  from 
north  to  south  and  empties  into  the  Columbia;  it  is 
very  tortuous  and  full  of  snags,  which  renders  its 
navigation  difficult  and  dangerous,  especially  for 
small  craft,  and  by  reason  of  its  numerous  rapids  of 
dangerous  ascent. 

Having  made  seven  baptisms,  given  to  the  men  the 
necessary  advices,  and  recommended  Mr.  Fagnant, 
one  of  the  farmers,  who  was  able  to  read,  to  teach 
the  prayers  and  catechism  to  the  women  and  chil- 
dren, the  Vicar  General  left  on  Tuesday  morning, 
the  18th,  and  reached  Vancouver  on  Thursday,  the 
20th,  at  4  30  p.  m.  Governor  Douglas  had  the  po- 
liteness to  go  and  meet  him  on  the  shore  with  Kev. 
M,  Demers,  on  his  arrival.  On  his  way  up  and  down 
he  visited  some  Indian  lodges  to  announce  to  them 
the  arrival  of  the  liIackgow7is  who  come  to  speak  of 
the  Great  Spirit  and  make  them  good. 

First  Mission  to  the  Wallamette  Valley. 

This  mission  lasted  about  thirty   days;  from    Jan- 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  75 

uary  5th  3839  to  February  4th.  This  valley  takes  its 
name  from  the  river  which  flows  through  it  from 
south  to  north.  It  is  a  continuance  of  large  and 
level  prairies  strewed  with  timber  which  is  found  speci- 
ally along  the  banks  of  the  streams.  The  east  shore 
of  it  may  well  be  called  the  granary  of  Oregon,  the 
western  shore  being  generally  mountainous.  The 
settlement  of  this  valley  began  as  follows :  There  re- 
mained in  the  country  three  Canadians,  remnants  of 
the  old  expedition  of  Hunt  and  Astor,  viz:  Etienne 
Lucier,  one  of  the  former,  and  Joseph  Gervais  and 
Louis  Labonte  of  the  latter.  Etienne  Lucier  being 
tired  of  living  a  wandering  life  began  in  1829  to  cul- 
tivate the  land  near  Fort  Vancouver,  and  getting  dis- 
satisfied with  his  first  choice,  he  left  it  in  1830,  and, 
removing  to  the  Wallamette  valley,  settled  a  few 
miles  above  Champoeg,  then,  called  by  the  Canadians 
^'Campement  de  Sable."  Following  his  example  the 
two  others,  Joseph  Gervais  and  Louis  Labonte  fol- 
lowed him  in  1831  and  settled  some  distance  south 
of  him,  one  on  the  right  and  the  other  on  the  left  side 
of  the  river.  Some  old  servants  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Co.,  being  discharged  from  further  services,  went  over 
to  them  and  increased  their  number.  The  good  and 
generous  Dr.  McLaughlin  encouraged  the  colony 
and  helped  it  all  in  his  power.  It  continued  to  grow 
up  every  year,  and  its  settlers  began  to  feel  the  ne- 
cessity of  having  some  priests  to  reconcile  them  to 
God,  and  also  to  instruct  their  wives  and  children. 
The  nearest  bishop  they  could  apply  to  was  at  Ked 
River.  They  sent  him  a  petition  in  1834,  asking  for 
priests.     Their  request  was  without  success,  so   they 


76  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

renewed  their  petition  in  1835,  and  this  time  it  seem- 
ed they  were  to  be  heard,  for  the  Bishop  of  Juliopo- 
lis  obtained,  in  1836,  a  passage  for  two  priests  in  the 
canoes  of  1837  to  Oregon.  But  in  the  interval  of 
the  appointment  of  the  missionaries,  other  reflections 
superseded  the  first;  and  on  remarks  being  made 
that,  as  there  were  in  the  country  Anglican,  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  ministers,  the  difference  of  teaching 
might  create  dissentions  among  the  Indians;  for  this 
reason  and  perhaps  to  give  them  time  to  proselyte, 
the  grant  of  passage  was  withdrawn.  But  having 
made  new  efforts  the  Bishop  obtained  the  claimed 
passage  in  the  canoes  of  1838,  hence  their  arrival  and 
their  labors  at  Vancouver. 

The  Catholics  of  the  Wallamette  valley  were  very 
anxious  to  see  among  them  at  least  one  of  the 
priests  they  had  so  earnestly  asked  for.  On  the  day 
appointed  for  going,  two  large  canoes  from  the 
valley,  conducted  by  two  of  the  most  respected  citi- 
zens of  the  colony,  Mr.  Etienne  Lucier  and  Mr. 
Pierre  Beleque,  were  ready  at  Vancouver  for  depar- 
ture. The  Vicar  General,  leaving  to  Rev.  M.  De- 
mers  the  charge  of  continuing  the  mission  of 
Vancouver,  started  on  Thursday,  January  3d,  at  three 
p.m. 

The  Wallamette  Fall, 
a  beautiful  fall  of  30  feet,  across  the  river,  Avhich  re- 
quires a  portage  of  canoes  and  baggage  for  a  quarter  of 
a  mile,  was  passed  early  on  Friday;  and  on  Saturday 
at  10  a.  m.  the  campement  de  Sable,  (Champoeg)  was 
reached.  The  four  miles  from  thence  to  the  log 
church  (for  there  was  a  church   already)   were   made 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN'   OREuOX.  77 

on  horseback.  And  as  Mr.  Lncier  and  Mr.  Beleque 
were  neighbors,  and  on  his  way,  the  Vicar  General 
stopped  and  visited  their  families,  v/ho  were  so  glad 
to  be  the  first  to  see  the  priest  and  see  him  in  his 
true  ecclesiastical  Bole,  or  Soutane,  which  the  two 
missionaries  continued  to  wear  in  travelling,  at  homer 
and  in  the  town  of  Oregon  City  till  1849. 

That  church  made  of  logs  was  built  in  1836,  as 
soon  as  they  had  any  hopes  of  having  priests.  It 
vas  a  building  70  feet  by  30,  built  on  a  prairie,  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  river,  and  the  road  going  to 
Champoeg.  The  Vicar  General  took  possession  of  a 
part  of  the  church,  at  the  back  of  the  altar,  measuring* 
12x30,  which  being  afterwards  divided  by  an  alley 
of  6  feet,  gave  suf&cient  accommodation  for  two  bed 
rooms  on  one  side  and  a  kitchen  and  dining  room  on 
the  other.  Later,  in  order  to  make  room  for  some 
orphans,  the  alley  became  the  cooking  place.  The 
afternoon  of  that  day  was  spent  in  receiving  visits, 
as  all,  especially  the  women  and  the  half-breed  boys 
and  girls  were  very  anxious  to  see  the  priest  so  long 
announced  and  expected.  That  day  was  indeed  a 
day  of  joy  and  tender  emotions  to  all. 

The  following  day,  January  6th,  being  Sunday  and 
the  Epiphany  of  our  Lord,  the  church  was  blessed 
under  the  patronage  of  the  great  Apostle  St.  Paul, 
after  which  was  celebrated  the  first  mass  ever  said  in 
the  valley,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  Canadians,  their 
wives  and  children.  It  was  surely  a  great  day  for 
them  all;  for  the  Canadians  who  h^d  not  seen  a 
priest,  nor  heard  a  mass  for  10,  20,  30,. and  some  nearly 
forty  years;  and  for  their  wives  who  were  at  last  be- 


78  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

holding  one  of  those  priests  their  husbands  had  so 
long  ago  spoken  to  them  about.  Sweet  and  touch- 
ing indeed  were  the  sentiments  these  Canadians  ex- 
perienced on  seeing  themselves  at  the  foot  of  an 
altar,  of  the  Cross,  and  before  the  face  of  a  priest. 
These  poor  Canadians  were  overjoyed,  and  the  wo- 
men were  amazed  in  beholding  the  priest,  at  the  altar 
in  sacerdotal  vestments  and  prayer.  The  holy 
Sacrifice  of  the  Immaculate  Lambof  God  was  offered; 
the  pastoral  letter  of  the  Bishop  who  had  heard  their 
voice  and  sent  them  priests,  was  read;, the  command- 
ments of  God  and  of  the  church  were  published,  as 
well  as  the  rules  to  be  observed  during  the  mission; 
and  all  terminated  with  reflections  and  advices  which 
were  very  touching  on  both  sides.  All  went  home 
happy  and  willing  to  obey  the  Church,  even  in 
regard  to  separation  from  their  wives  until  their 
unions  would  be  blessed.  And  so  great  was  their 
desire  to  have  their  wives  and  children  instructed 
and  to  lose  nothing  of  the  instructions  given,  that 
they  brought  ihem  from  home  to  live  in  tents  around 
the  church.  The  men  would  not  do  less;  those 
living  the  nearest  came  every  day  to  hear  mass  and 
passed  the  whole  day  at  the  church,  returning  home 
in  time  to  attend  to  their  business  and  prevent  the 
wasting  of  their  crops  by  their  hired  and  slave  In- 
dians. Those  who  lived  farthest  away  remained 
several  days  before  returning  home,  sleeping  in  the 
large  hall  not  yet  divided  by  an  alley.  And  let  no 
one  suppose  that  in  that  ^season,  the  people  had  to 
suffer  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather;  not  at 
all;  for  the  weather  was  so   extraordinarily  fine   and 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH       IN       OREGON.  79 

mild,  and  so  similar  to  the  month  of  May  in  Canada, 
as  to  make  the  good  Canadians  say;  ''The  Good  God 
has  pity  onus;  it  is  for  us  that  he  has  sent  this 
fine  weather/' 

The  exercises  were  commenced  every  day  by  the 
celebration  of  mass  with  an  instruction,  after  which 
followed  the  recitation  of  the  prayers  in  French,  the 
explanation  of  the  Apostle's  creed  and  the  most 
important  truths  of  religion,  intermixed  with  singing 
of  canticles,  from  mass  till  12  a.  m.,  and  from  1  to  4 
p.  m.  And  as  the  women  did  not  all  understand 
French,  and  there  were  among  them  a  variety  of 
tongues,  some  being  of  the  Chinook,  others  of  the 
Colville  and  Flathead  tribes,  the  difficulty  was  over- 
come by  using  different  interpreters  to  convey  to 
them  the  words  of  the  priest.  At  dusk,  took  place 
the  evening  prayers,  the  reading  of  pious  books  and 
singing  of  French  canticles;  after  which,  some  boys 
were  taught  to  read  in  French  and  serve  at  mass. 
There  was  at  that  time  in  the  valley  a  young  man,  25 
years  of  age,  born  in  Havre  de  Grace,  France,  called 
Pierre  Stanislas  Jacquet.  He  left  the  sea  which  he 
entered  at  the  age  of  11.  That  young  man  became 
useful  by  knowing  how  to  read  and  teach  the  prayers, 
while  the  priest  was  hearing  confessions  of  the  men, 
who  had  to  come  more  than  once,  and  those  of  the 
little  boys  and  girls,  to  accustom  them  to  the 
holy  practice.  The  men  had  also  to  be  examined  and 
re-affirmed  in  their  prayers,  but  they  generally  were 
found  to  have  retained  them  in  a  surprising  manner. 

The  instructions  and  teaching  ot  prayers  lasted 
three  weeks.     The  fruits   of   the   mission    tv^ere  con- 


'80  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

soling;  for  many  of  the  Indian  women  and  a  number 
of  grown  boys  and  girls,  and  young  children  had 
learned  to  make  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  the  offering  of 
the  heart  to  God,  the  Lord's  prayer,  the  Hail  Mary, 
the  Apostle's  Creed  and  some  of  the  Acts;  25  Indian 
ivomen  were  baptized  in  excellent  dispositions,  and 
their  unions  with  their  husbands  blessed  by  the 
church;  47  other  baptisms  of  children  were  made; 
to  which,  if  we  add  those  two  of  an  old  In- 
dian man  and  a  young  Indian  girl,  both  sick,  who 
soon  died,  and  were  the  first  buried  in  the  new  cem- 
etery, we  will  have  74  baptisms  and  25  marriages; 
the  26th  couple,  being  that  of  a  Canadian,  married  in 
the  valley  by  the  Rev.  D.  Lestie,  without  the  certifi- 
cate of  the  death  of  his  wife  he  had  left  in  Canada, 
the  Vicar  General  ordered  and  obtained  a  separation. 
Hence  only  25  marriages  instead  of  26. 

Besides  the  altar  fixed  in  due  time,  the  Vicar 
General  had  a  communion  rail  made  to  separate  the 
sanctuary  from  the  nave,  a  cross  fixed  on  the  gable 
of  the  church,  an  acre  of  ground  chosen  and  fenced 
and  blessed  for  a  graveyard  with  a  high  cross  in  the 
centre,  and  small  wooden  crosses  were  blessed  for 
each  house.  The  six  first  couplets  of  canticles  which 
had  been  learned,  and  were  daily  sung  at  mass  with 
some  taste  and  delight  by  the  men  women  and  chil- 
dren, were  earnestly  recommended  to  be  sung  at 
home.  The  two  missionaries  saw  with  great  pleasure 
their  advice  put  in  practice.  In  fine,  taking  the 
fourth  and  last  week  of  his  mission  to  rest  a  little, 
the  Vicar  General  went  and  took*  jDOSsession  of  a 
tract  of  ground  of  640- acres  for  the  mission,  and  went 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  81 

around  the  whole  establishment  to  visit  the  settlers, 
who  received  him  with  the  greatest  demonstrations 
of  joy  and  thanks  to  God  for  the  consolations  of 
religion  they  had  received;  their  joy,  nevertheless, 
was  greatly  lessened  in  not  being  allowed  to  keep 
among  themselves,  at  least,  one  of  those  they  had 
called  for.  But  they  expected  that  this  would  not 
last  long,  and  that  their  good  father.  Dr.  McLaughlin, 
would  obtain  a  change.  Having  given  them  five 
Sundays,  the  Vicar  General  started  on  Monday,  the 
5th  of  February  and  reached  Vancouver  on  Tuesday 
at  5  p.  m.,  where  he  remained  at  w^ork  with  Kev.  M. 
Demers  till  the  14th  of  March. 

The  True  Nx\me   or  our  River. 

It  is  fit  to  explain  here,  why,  in  the  foregoing  par- 
agraphs, the  name  of  our  river  is  called  IVallamette^ 
rather  than  Wallamet  or  Willamette,  as  many  call  it 
now.  The  reason  is  obvious :  it  is  because  Wallametie 
is  the  true  Indian  name,  whereas  Wallamet  and  Wil- 
lamette are  but  corrupted  and  fabricated  ones  of 
modern  date.  Proofs  are  not  wanting  to  show  that 
from  1812  to  1842,  the  principal  persons  in  the 
country,  either  American  of  Astor  and  Hunt's  expe- 
dition, or  British,  or  Scotchmen,  or  French  Canadi- 
ans of  the  North  West  and  Hudson  Bay  Companies, 
always  spelled  the  name  with  an  ''a"  in  the  first 
syllable,  and  a  '^tte'' in  the  last  one,  thus:  Wallam-' 
eite.  The  letters  ''mette"  not  to  be  pronounced 
*'met"  as  in  the  ¥renQ}ivfoxdihonqitet;  but  as  ''mette'" 
in  the  French  w^ord  gazette.  It  was  thus  spelled  by 
the  gentlemen  of  the  H.  B.  Co.,  Dr.  John  McLaugh- 


82  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

lin,  James  Douglas  and  Peter  Ogden,  when  the 
Methodist,  Presbyterian  ministers,  Catholic  mission- 
aries and  many  other  American  citizens  arrived  here 
in  1834,  1836,  1838  and  1840.  Hence  the  numerous 
discij)les,  who  adopting  the  name  of  our  river  as 
spelled  by  them,  made  a  faithful  use  of  it  before 
1840,  and  long  after  1842,  and  even  as  far  down  as 
1848;  and  one  even  to  1859,  because  convinced  of  it 
being  the  genuine  name;  and  all  that,  notwithstanding 
the  strong  prevailing  use  of  the  spurious  one  of 
AVillamette.     Witness  the  following  instances. 

Rev.  Jason  Lee,  who  arrived  in  the  country  in  1834 
signs,  in  1844,  with  Dr.  McLaughlin  and  others,  a 
document  in  which  the  word  is  spelled  Wallamette. 
David  Leslie,  W.  H.  Wilson  and  George  Gay,  who 
came  here  in  1837,  Sidney  Smith  in  1839,  and  A.  F. 
Waller  and  L,  H.  Judson  in  1840,  say  they  are  living 
in  the  valley  called  Wallamette  Young  and  Car- 
michael,  addressing  the  Oregon  temperance  society, 
date  their  letter  from  Wallamette,  Jan.  3, 1837.  Eev. 
G.  Hines  who  came  here  in  1840,  in  his  history  of 
Oregon,  in  1859,  on  all  occasions,  calls  our  river  by 
the  name  of  Wallamette.  Dr.  E.  White,  who  arrived 
here  in  1836,  when  writing  as  sub-agent  of  Indian 
affairs  to  the  secretary  of  war  in  1843,  always  dates 
his  letters  from  the  Wallamette  valley.  Josiah  L. 
Parrish  and  A.  F.  Waller,  who  arrived  here  in  1840, 
as  Methodist  ministers,  affirm  that  the  name  of  the 
river  is  an  Indian  one,  to  be  spelled  with  an  ^-a"  hi 
the  first  syllable. 

The  Catholic  missionaries  on   their  arrival  at  Van- 
couver in  1838,  received  also  the    name    with   its  or- 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  83 

tograpliy  from  the  same  gentlemen,  and  always  used 
it  in  their  long  correspondences  at  home  and  abroad, 
from  1839  to  1848,  dating  their  letters  from  or  ad- 
dressing them  to:  "St.  Paul  of  Wallamette.''  So  did 
the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  Belgium,  from  1844  to 
1853.  The  gentlemen  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.  did 
likewise,  in  all  their  transactions  and  writings:  thus, 
their  bills  of  supplies  to  the  Catholic  mission,  from 
1839  to  1847  were  always  headed:  ^'Catholic  Mission 
of  Wallamette  or  of  Wallamette  falls.''  Rev.  Mr. 
Beaver,  who  w^as  chaplain  at  Vancouver,  from  1836 
to  1838,  having  returned  to  England,  in  a  certain 
deposition  made  in  London  in  1849,  calls  our  river 
by  the  name  he  had  learned  during  his  stay  at  Van- 
couver, Wallamette, 

First   Mission    to   Cowlitz,    "Washington    Territory, 

1839. 

The  first  mission  to  Cowlitz  was  begun  by  the 
Vicar  General  on  March  17th,  1839,  and  continued 
until  the  1st  of  May  following.  Arriving  at  the  set- 
tlement on  the  evening  of  March  16tli.,  the  Vicar 
General  was  accomodated  by  Mr.  Simon  Plamondon 
with  a  room  for  his  own  use  and  also  an  apartment 
18x25  feet  to  be  used  as  a  chapel.  Besides  the  four 
farmers  and  their  families  forming  the  colony,  there 
were  a  large  number  of  servants,  employed  on  the 
farms  of  the  11.  B.  Co.,  some  of  them  having 
wives.  The  mission  commenced  on  Passion  Sunday 
with  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  the  publication 
of  the  law  of  God  and  the  precepts  of  the  Church — 
on  which  an  instruction  was  given.     Mass  was   cele- 


84  SKETCHES      OF       THE 

brated  every  day  at  6  a.  m.,  during  which  an  in- 
struction was  given.  The  rest  of  the  day  was  devoted 
to  teaching  the  Catechism  and  canticles  to  the 
women  and  children  in  French.  In  the  evening  all 
assembled  in  the  chapel  where  evening  prayers,  an 
instruction,  and  singing  hymns  preceded  the  hearing 
of  confessions  which  continued  long  into  the  night. 
The  Indians  were  instructed  at  stated  intervals  every 
day.  The  ceremonies  of  Holy  week  made  a  deep 
impression  on  all  who  attended,  and  the  mission  was 
fruitful  in  good  results. 

The  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  Missionary  at  Cow- 
litz caused  numerous  delegations  of  Indians  to  come 
from  remote  distances  in  order  to  hear  and  see  the 
blade govm.  Among  these  delegations  was  one  led  by 
a  chief  named  Tsla-lakum,  whose  tribe  inhabited 
"Whitby  Island,  Puget  Sound,  150  miles  from  the 
Cowlitz  mission.  After  a  journey  of  two  days  in 
canoes  to  Fort  Nesqualy,  and  an  arduors  march  of 
three  days  on  foot,  across  streams  and  rivers  and  by 
an  exceedingly  rough  trail,  they  reached  Cowlitz  with 
bleeding  feet,  famished  and  broken  down.  Their 
object  was  to  see  the  blacJcgown  and  hear  him  speak 
of  the  great  Spirit.  As  soon  as  they  were  refreshed 
the  Missionary  began  to  speak  to  them  of  God,  of 
the  Incarnation  and  Eedemption.  But  the  great 
difficulty  was  how  to  give  them  an  idea  of  religion 
so  plain  and  simple  as  to  command  their  attention, 
and  which  they  could  retain  in  their  minds  and  carry 
back  with  them  to  their  tribe.  In  looking  for  a  plan 
the  Vicar  General  imagined  that  by  representing  on 
a  square  stick,  the  forty  centuries  before    Christ  by 


CA.THOLIC       CHURCH 


40  marks;  the  thirty  three  years  of  our  Lord  by  33 
points,  followed  by  a  cross;  and  the'6%*hteen  cen- 
turies and  thirty-nine  years  since,  by  18  marks  and 
39  points,  would  pretty  well  answer  his  design,  in 
giving  him  a  chance  to  show  the  beginning  of  the 
world,  the  creation,  the  fall  of  angels,  of  Adam,  the 
promise  of  a  Savior,  the  time  of  his  birth,  and  his 
death  upon  the  cross,  as  well  as  the  mission  of  the 
Apostles.  The  plan  was  a  great  success.  After  eight 
da^^s  explanation,  the  chief  and  his  companions  be- 
came masters  of  the  subject;  and,  having  learned  to 
make  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  to  sing  one  or  two 
canticles  in  Chinook  jargon,  they  started  for  home 
well  satisfied,  with  a  square  rule  thus  marked,  which 
they  called:  Sahcde  stick,  (Bois  cVen  haut.)  That 
plan  was  afterwards  changed  from  a  rnle  to  a  large 
chart  containing  the  great  epochs  of  the  world,  such 
as  the  Deluge,  the  Tower  of  Babel,  the  ten  com- 
mandments of  God,  the  12  apostles,  the  seven  sac- 
raments and  precepts  of  the  Church;  these  being 
very  usefvil  to  enable  the  missionary  the  teaching  of 
the  Indians  and  w^hibes.  It  was  called,  ^'The  Catho- 
lic Ladder." 

The  fruits  of  this  long  mission  were  very  consoling. 
The  women,  grown  boys  and  girls,  had  learned  their 
prayers  in  part,  and  some  of  the  catechism;  and  the 
younger  children,  some  part  of  their  prayers.  The 
first  strophe  of  several  canticles,  in  French  and  Chi- 
nook, had  been  learned,  and  were  sung  alternately  by 
the  two  choirs  of  men,  women  and  children,  after  the 
chant  of  the  other  strophes  by  a  solus.  By  that 
means,  the  offices,  on  Sunday,  at  mass   and   vespers, 


86  SKETCHES       OF       THK 

were  rendered  pretty  solemn  and  attractive.  The 
number  of  baptisms  were  28,  of  which,  20  were  In- 
dian children,  and?  were  adult  women;  thus  in 
adding  the  7  made  in  December  last,  we  will  have  34 
baptisms  made  at  Cowlitz,  7  marriages  blessed,  and 
large  numbers  of  Easter  Communions. 

The  winter  season  of  1838-9  had  been  so  excej^tion- 
ally  beautful  as  to  allow  the  farmers  to  plow  and 
BOW  without  interruption.  On  the  5th  day  of  April,- 
the  prairies  were  blooming  with  wild  flowers  and 
strawberries.  On  the  7th  the  grass  was  6  inches 
high.  Augustin  Rochon,  the  servant  of  the  mission, 
brought  from  Canada,  had  in  no  way  remained  idle; 
he  had  made  6,000  rails  for  fences,  squared  the 
timbers  for  a  house  and  barn,  which  were  to  be 
hauled  on  the  mission  land  as  soon  as  he  could  get  a 
yoke  of  oxen.  The  settlers  of  Cowlitz  and  their  fam- 
ilies were  extremely  pleased  to  have  the  visit  of  Kev. 
M.  Demers,  during  the  mission  of  the  Vicar  General 
there.  This  visit  was  due  to  the  following  circum- 
stances : — 

First  Mission  at  Fort  Nesqualy. 
*  About  the  8th  of  April,  1839,  Rev.  D.  Leslie,  a 
Methodist  minister,  arrived  at  Cowlitz  en  route  to 
Nesqualy  where  he  intended  establishing  a  mission 
among  the  Indians.  This  information  at  once 
prompted  Vicar  General  Blanchet  to  despatch  an  In- 
dian express  to  Father  Demers  at  Vancouver,  asking 
him  to  proceed  at  once  to  Nesqualy  in  order  to  plant 
the  true  seed  in  the  hearts  of  the*Indians  there.  Fa- 
ther Demers  left  immediately  and  reached  his  desti- 
nation in  six  days,  during   which   he  %as  drenched 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  87 

with  a  cold  and  continuous  rain.  He  was  welcomed 
Avith  great  politeness  by  Mr,,  Kitson,  the  commander 
of  the  fort;  a  house  was  appropriated  for  th^  purpose 
of  a  chapel,  and  he  at  once  entered  upon  the  object 
of  his  arduous  journey.  The  Indians  flocked  from 
all  sides  to  see  the  great  chief  of  the  French  and  re- 
ceive his  instructions.'  An  unforespen  incident  how- 
ver,  came  near  preventing  the  mission  begun  under 
K^ach  favorable  auspices.  The  commandant  was  un- 
willing to  allow  a  vast  crowd  of  Indians  to  enter  the 
fort,  and  ordered  them  to  stay  outside  of  the  pali- 
sades. One  of  the  Indians,  bolder  than  the  rest, 
dared  to  force  an  entry  and  was  pushed  back  rather 
roughly  by  Mr.  Kitson,  hence  the  beginning  of  a 
riot,  which  might  have  become  fatal,  if  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Missionary  had  not  appeased  that  un- 
tamed multitude.  Who  shall  not  here  admire  the 
holy  influence  of  religion  in  the  person  of  an  humble 
priest  over  an  enraged  multitude  of  Indians,  on  his 
simple  appearance  among  them?  Such  is  the  in- 
fluence of  religion. 

Father  Demers  was  then  obliged  to  go  out  of  the 
fort  to  teach  the  Indians,  who,  during  the  whole 
tifne  of  the  mission,  gave  him  evidence  of  their  most 
perfect  docility  to  his  advice.  The  first  mass  was 
celebrated  in  the  presence  of  the  commander  and 
other  persons  of  the  fort.  Among  the  throng  there 
were  counted  Indians  of  22  different  nations.  All 
the  days  of  the  man  of  God  were  devoted  to  his 
dear  neophytes.  To  celebrate  the  divine  oflices, 
teach  the  Christian  prayers,  administer  baptism  to 
children,  explain  to  the   Indians   the    dogmatic   and 


88  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

moral  truths  of  religion,  to  hear  the  confessions  of 
the  Canadians;  such  were  the  occupations  which 
absorb^  the  days  and  part  of  the  nights  of  the 
priest  during  the*ten  days  the  mission  lasted. 

Monday,  the  29th  of  April,  was  to  the  servant  of 
God  a  day  well  calculated  to  indemnify  him  plenti- 
■^ully  for  his  long  and  painful  journeys  and  mission- 
ary labors;  for  on  that  day,  Mrs.  Kitson  the  wife  of 
the  commander,  after  having  followed  the  instruc- 
tions with  much  attention,  and  practiced  with  fervor 
the  exercises  of  piety  prescribed  to  her,  had  the 
happiness  to  open  her  eyes  to  the  light,  and  receive 
the  gift  of  faith  and  the  grace  of  baptism.  The  fol- 
lowing day,  the  30th,  being  the  day  fixed  for  his  de- 
parture, was  a  day  of  mourning  for  the  poor  Indians 
of  Nesqualy.  Men  and  women  flocked  around  him 
to  entreat  him  to  remain  among  them'  and  to  show 
him  the  deep  sorrow  which  his  too  untimely  parting 
caused  them.  They  went  so  far  as  to  promise  him 
perfect  docility  to  his  advice,  and  that,  if  polygamy 
was  an  evil  in  the  eyes  of  the  Great  Spirit,  they 
would  forthwith  conform  themselves  to  his  will. 
Deeply  touched  by  these  admirable  effects  of  the 
grace  of  God,  Father  Demers  encouraged  them  to 
perseverance,  and  consoled  them  the  best  he  could 
for  having  to  leave  them,  giving  them  to  understand 
that  he  parted  with  them  to  obey  God  who  was  call- 
ing him  elsewhere /where  sheep  were  to  be  brought 
to  the  fold;  and  that  he  would  soon  return  to  them 
and  prepare  them  for  baptism.  After  having  given 
orders  to  build  a  chapel,  and  said  mass  outside  of 
the  fort,  he  parted  with  them,  blessing  the  Lord  for 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  89 

the  success  of  his  mission  among  the  whites  and 
Indians,  and  reached  Cowlitz  on  Monday,  the  SOtti., 
with  the  conviction  that  his  mission  at  Nesqnaly  had 
left  a  very  feeble  chance  for  a  Methodist  mission 
there.  Brother  "Wilson,  whom  minister  Leslie  had 
left  orders  with  to  build  a  house,  on  a  certain  piece 
of  land,  must  have  been  greatly  despondent  at  being 
witness  to  all  he  had  seen. 

The  fruits  of  this  unexpected  mission  were,  13 
baptisms,  2  of  which  were  adult  women,  the  rest 
being  children,  and  2  marriages.  This  mission  was 
made  so  short  because  Rev.  M.  Demers  was  bound 
to  be  at  Vancouver  to  meet  there  the  brigades  of 
North  and  South,  and  prepare  himself  for  his  mission 
to  the  upper  Columbia.  The  Vicar  General  having 
completed  his  mission  at  Cowlitz  and  given  his  orders 
for  the  building  of  the  priest's  house,  prepared  to 
start  for  Vancouver. 

Second  Mission  in  the  "VVallamette  Valley. 

The  two  Missionaries  left  Cowlitz,  Thursday,  May 
2nd,  1839,  for  Fort  Vancouver,  Father  Demers  desir- 
ing to  visit  the  Catholic  settlement  at  St.  Paul's, 
which  latter  place  they  reached  in  safety  by  means  of 
a  canoe  propelled  by  the  stalwart  arms  of  four  Indi- 
ans. Father  Demers  at  once  started  on  horseback  to 
visit  all  the  settlers,  but  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his 
journey  and  return  again  to  Vancouver  in  conse- 
quence of  a  violent  cold  which  he  caught  on  his 
former  journey  to  Nesqualy.  Whilst  there  he  had 
the  pleasure  of  receiving  two  large  cases  filled  with 
goods  intended  for  the  Mission  which  had  been  for- 


90  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

warded  from  Canada^  and  which  were  greatly  needed. 
Among  the  gifts  was  a  beautiful  folio  edition  of 
the  bible  presented  by  Kev.  Antoine  Parent,  of  the 
Seminary  of  Quebec,  and  which  was  greatly  admired 
by  all  who  saw  it. 

On  arriving  at  St.  Paul  the  Vicar  General  learned 
with  much  surprise  that  his  first  mission  at  St.  Paul 
had  caused  quite  a  commotion  .among  the  Methodist 
preachers  who  had  a  missionary  station  about  twelve 
miles  south  of  the  Catholic  settlement.  The  cause  of 
this  excitement  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  Vicar 
General  had  re-baptized  and  re-married  a  number  of 
persons  who  were  officiated  over  by  the  Methodist 
ministers ;  a  number  of  Catholics  withdrew  also 
from  the  temperance  society  and  prayer  meetings  of 
the  Methodist  brethren.  These  acts  aroused  all  the 
ire  of  the  ministers  who  deeming  themselves  and 
their  office  ignored,  determined  to  be  revenged; 
but  before  doing  so  they  endeavored  to  make  prose- 
lytes among  the  Catholics  through  means  of  Kev. 
Daniel  Lee's  preaching  and  praying  in  some  of  their 
houses.  Rev.  David  Leslie  next  got  up  a  revival, 
but  it  was  barren  of  any  fruits.  As  a  dernier  resort  a 
complaint  was  made  to  Governor  Douglas  relative  to 
the  influence  which  the  Catholic  Missionaries  were 
using  in  order  to  keep  the  lambs  of  the  flock  out  of 
the  clutches  of  the  Wesley  an  wolves.  The  Govern- 
or, however,  told  his  informant  very  curtly  that  *4t 
was  none  of  his  business."  Thus,  finding  themselves 
foiled  at  every  point,  the  preachers  had  recourse  to 
their  usual  weapon  of  slander  and  falsehood.  A 
copy  of    an    infamous    publication    entitled    Maria 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  91 

Monk,  was  circulated  among  the  community  ;  this 
work  pretended  to  give  ''awful  disclosures"  concern- 
ing confession  and  convent  life,  and  was  filled  with 
stale  slanders  and  exploded  inventions.  The  circu- 
lation of  this  obscene  book  caused  considerable  feel- 
ing among  the  Catholics  and  the  Vicar  General  found 
on  his  return  an  excited  community  where  all  was 
peace  at  his  former  visit. 

The  Vicar  General's  attention  was  at  once  directed 
towards  allaying  the  excitement  by  a  simple  explana- 
tion of  the  vicious  causes  which  led  the  Methodist 
ministers  to  cast  such  a  firebrand  among  a  peaceable 
and  happy  community.  He  proved  the  work  to  be  a 
tissue  of  falsehoods  and  calumnies  which  had  been 
refuted  over  the  signatures  of  some  of  the  most  re- 
spectable Protestants  of  Montreal  where  the  scene 
of  its  shameless  relations  was  laid.  The  Canadian 
settlers  naturally  became  indignant  at  the  vile  artifice, 
hypocrisy  and  ingratitude  of  the  Methodist  ministers 
whose  lives  they  had  been  the  means  of  saving  but  a 
short  month  before.  It  appears  that  an  Indian  had 
stolen  some  wheat  and  being  discovered  he  was  se- 
verely beaten  at  the  Methodist  mission:  his  tribe 
threatened  to  massacre  the  people  at  the  mission 
which  so  alarmed  Eev.  David  Leslie  that  he  hastened 
at  once  to  the  Canadians  begging  them  to  use  their 
influence  with  the  Indians  to  save  them,  which  the 
Canadians  did  most  effectually.  Finally,  the  Metho- 
dists discovering  that  their  efforts  to  malign  their 
Catholic  neighbors  were  recoiling  upon  their  own 
heads  they  quietly  withdrew  the  vile  book  which  had 
caused  so  much  trouble  and  learned  afterwards  to 
live  in  amity  with  their  neighbors. 


92  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

The  second  mission  given  at  St.  Paul's,  by  the 
Vicar  General,  lasted  thirty  days,  and  was  attended 
with  great  zeal  by  the  surrounding  settlers,  their 
wives  and  children.  The  Catholic  Ladder  was  found 
very  useful  in  imparting  instruction,  as  many  of  the 
neophytes  did  not  understand  French  sufficiently 
to  be  instructed  in  that  language.  It  was  also  ex- 
posed in  the  church  on  Sundays  and  fully  explained 
to  the  congregation  who  listened  with  the  most  re- 
sj)ectful  attention. 

During  the  mission  the  Vicar  General  had  the 
consolation  of  receiving  into  the  fold  of  Christ  Mr. 
Montour,  a  former  clerk  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.,  to- 
gether with  his  wife  and  children.  This  gentleman 
proved  a  most  zealous  convert,  assisting  with  the 
greatest  devotion  at  all  the  offices  of  the  church  on 
Sundays  and  week  days.  On  the  Sunday  within  the 
octave  of  Corpus  Christi  all  the  congregation  united 
in  a  grand  procession  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment; repositories  were  erected  and  an  avenue  of 
trees  planted,  through  which  the  large  multitude 
passed  in  regular  order.  Thus,  this  mission  pro- 
duced great  spiritual  results,  and  the  Vicar  General 
left  for  Vancouver  on  the  7th  of  June,  well  pleased 
with  the  earnest  piety  of  the  congregation  of  St. 
Paul. 

The  Brigade    of    the    NortHo     Mission    of    Father 
Demers  to  Fort  Colville  in  1839. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Co's.  brigade  of  the  north,  was 
Bijledi  des  port eitrs  in.  consequence  oi  the  men  being 
obliged  to  pack  the  baggage  on  their  backs  for  want 


CATHOLIC   CHUECH   IN   OREGON.  93 

of  horses,  started  on  June  22nd  1839.  It  consisted  of 
a  flotilla  of  nine  barges  manned  by  fifty-seven  Kien 
under  the  command  of  Chief  Factors  Ogden  and 
Black.  A  passage  was  offered  to  one  of  the  mission- 
aries with  this  brigade  as  far  as  Walla  Walla,  and  as 
the  Indians  at  Fort  Colville  had  been  told  by  the 
missionaries  that  one  of  them  would  return  again  for 
the  purpose  of  instructing  them  in  the  faith.  Father 
Demers  was  selected  for  that  duty,  leaving  to  the 
Vicar  General  the  vast  missionary  field  already  open 
along  the  waters  of  the  Columbia,  the  Wallamette, 
and  Puget  Sound. 

Arriving  at  Walla  Walla  Father  Demers  procured 
a  guide  expecting  to  make  the  trip  to  Colville  in  six 
days;  in  this,  however,  he  was  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment as  his  guide  proved  treacherous  and  left  him 
alone  before  half  the  journey  was  accomplished,which 
necessitated  him  to  send  back  for  another  guide,  and 
thus  fourteen  days  were  consumed  on  the  journey. 
After  this  delay  and  having  surmounted  many  diffi- 
culties. Father  Demers  arrived  at  Fort  Colville  where 
he  entered  at  once  on  a  mission  which  lasted  for 
thirty-three  days  and  resulted  very  beneficially  to  the 
employers  of  the  H.  B.  Co.,  as  well  as  to  the  numer- 
ous Indians  gathered  around  the  fort.  On  his  re- 
turn trip  he  also  gave  an  eight  day  mission  at 
O'Kanagan  and  spent  two  weeks  at  Walla  Walla  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  assembled  Indians  and  the  few 
whites  employed  around  the  fort. 

The  Brigade  of  the  South.     Second  Mission  to  Cow- 
litz. 
The  brigade  w^as  composed  of  a   large   number  of 


.      "X. 

OF  THl^ 


TX-fcTX-i 


94  .  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

servants,  trappers  of  the  H.  B.  C,  returning*  from 
California  with  horses  laden  with  fur.  It  arrived  at 
Vancouver  June  15th,  and  was  to  return  in  three 
weeks,  with  horses  packed  with  provisions  and  goods 
for  the  trade  of  the  following  year.  Several  of  the 
servants  had  wives  and  children  to  be  baptized,  in- 
structed  and  married.  The  task  became  onerous  on 
the  Vicar  General,  as  this  was  in  addition  to  the  or- 
dinary duty  of  teaching  of  the  ladies  and  children  of 
the  fort  and  others.  He  undertook  it  heartily,  say- 
ing Mass  early  and  dividing  his  time  between  them 
all :  there  were  made  44  baptisms,  of  which  13  were 
adults,  and  the  same  number  of  marriages,  amongst 
js^hich  were  those  of  Mr.  Michel  Lapramboise,  the 
conductor  of  the  brigade,  and  Mr.  Joseph  McIiOugh- 
lin,  son  of  Dr.  McLoughlin.  The  brigade  left  July 
13,  having  to  camp  between  50  and  60  times,  making 
4  leagues  a  da}^  before  reaching  their  trapping 
j)laces.  In  Southern  Oregon  it  had  to  pass  through  a 
very  warlike,  wicked  and  treacherous  race  of  Indians, 
waiting  in  ambuscade  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  and 
killing  animals  and  men,  on  all  occasions.  Hence 
the  name  of  Les  Coqm7is  (the  Rogues)  given  to  them 
and  La  Riviere  oitx  Coqidns  (the  Eogue  river)  given 
to  the  country,  by  the  men  of  the  brigade. 

After  attending  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  bri- 
gade of  the  north  and  south,  the  jDlace  to  be  visited 
next  was  the  Cowlitz  settlement.  The  Vicar  General 
reached  that  place  on  July  20  ;  and  as  he  had  learned 
that  a  building  had  been  erected  on  the  mission 
land,  he  directed  his  steps  there,  and  took  possession 
of  a  little  30x20  log  house  in  which  he  celebrated 
Mass  the  following  day.     It  was  roofed,  and  had  an 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  "95 

addition  for  a  kitchen  at  one  end,  but  was  without 
floor,  doors,  and  windows.  It  took  some  tim^  before 
this  could  be  done,  or  the  joints  of  the  logs  could  be 
filled  with  earth,  as  the  farmers  were  busy  at  their 
harvest.  He  found  there  also  a  barn  of  60x30  raised, 
roofed  and  ceiled  around,  ready  to  receive  the  crop  _of 
6  bushels  of  wheat  and  9  bushels  of  peas,  sown  last 
spring.  Augustin,  the  laborer,  had  fenced 
24  acres  of  land,  and  ploughed  15  others,  to  be  sown 
next  fall ;  so  that  the  missionary  of  that  place  was 
assured  of  his  daily  bread. 

The  log  house  was  used  as  a  chapel,  under  the 
patronage  of  St.  Francis  Xaverius,  and  a  lodging  for 
the  priest  till  1842.  The  priest,  in  having  his  mod- 
est bed  on  the  Gospel  side  of  the  sanctuary,  was 
more  fortunate  than  the  young  Samuel,  who  had  his 
own  in  the  vestibule,  away  from  the  sanctuary.  The 
daily  teaching  of  the  women  and  children  commenced 
as  soon  as  the  harvest  Avas  over.  The  Catholic  Ladder 
was  used  here,  for  the  first  time,  with  great  profit  to 
all,  on  the  week-days  and  on  Sundays.  Augustin 
Roclion,  the  servant  of  the  mission,  had  run  a  great 
danger,  some  time  after  the  departure  of  the  Vicar 
General,  in  the  beginning  of  May.  He  had  bought 
a^horse  from  an  Indian  and  paid  the  price  agreed; 
the  Indian,  displeased  with  his  bargain,  came  back  to 
have  his  horse  again,  which  Augustin  refused:  hence 
a  strife,  in  which  he  was  stabbed  by  the  Indian; 
fortunately,  there  was  present  a  half-breed  who,  seiz- 
ing the  stick  Augustin  had  thrown  to  the  ground  in 
order  to  have  free  use  of  his  hands,  soon  made  the 
Indian  run  away.     This  mission  lasted  40  days. 


96  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

The  first  mission  to  Nesqualy  was  made  by  Father 
Demers,  who  celebrated  the  first  mass  in  the  fort  on 
April  22,  the  day  after  he  arrived.  His  visit  at  such 
a  time  was  forced  upon  him  by  the  establishment  of 
a  Methodist  mission  there  for  the  Indians.  His  mis- 
sion was  a  success;  and,  it  now  being  the  time  to  go 
and  consolidate  the  good  already  done  there,  the 
Vicar  General  left  Cowlitz,  reached  fort  Nesqualy  on 
Aug.  30,  and  began  his  mission  of  12  days.  The  fort 
contained  five  families,  including  that  of  Mr.  Kitsen, 
the  commander  and  his  servants,  numbering  in  all 
36  souls.  The  men  attended  mass  at  5  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  had  other  exercises  in  the  evening;  their 
commander  leading  them  the  example  though  not  a 
Catholic. 

The  forenoon  was  devoted  to  women  and  children 
of  the  fort,  teaching  them  their  prayers  and  explain- 
ing the  catechism,  with  the  aid  of  the  Catholic  Ladder, 
Some  of  the  women  able  to  speak  only  Nesqualy, 
Chinook  jargon,  and  Flathead,  Mr.  Kitsen,  who 
understood  those  languages,  besides  French  and  En- 
glish, was  very  useful  as  an  interpreter.  Some  of  the 
women  on  the  outside  were  allowed  to  assist  at  the 
exercises,  and  at  the  end  of  the  mission  the  women 
and  children  were  able  to  answer  many  questions  on 
God,  Holy  Trinity,  Incarnation  and  Redemption;  all 
had  learned  to  sing  the  first  couj)let  of  five  French 
canticles,  and  two  in  Chinook. 

The  afternoon  was  devoted  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Indians,  who  were  few  in  the  beginning,  but  con- 
tinued to  arrive  in  canoes  every  day,  until  they  num- 
bered at  least  300.     Twice  was    the    Vicar   General 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  97 

obliged  to  allow  a  number  of  men  and  women  to 
come  and  have  the  satisfaction  of  touching  his  hand, 
the  mothers  brought  their  children  on  their  backs 
for  the  same  purpose.  Among  other  chiefs  was 
Tslalakom,  one  of  the  12  who  travelled  from  Whitby's 
Island  to  Cowlitz,  in  April  last,  in  order  to  see  the 
Blaclcgown,  Instructions  out  of  the  fort  were  given, 
first  in  a  large  tent,  and  afterwards  in  the  open  air, 
under  the  shade  of  a  tree.  All  were  looking  at  a 
large  Catholic  Ladder,  hung  up  on  a  pole,  the  points 
being  shown  with  a  long  stick.  Among  the  remarks 
made  by  some  of  the  chiefs  was  that  of  Tslalakom : 
''That  man  Noah  had  more  children  than  the  first 
man  Adam.''  It  was  a  beautiful  sight  in  the  evening 
to  look  from  the  inside  gallery  of  the  fort  on  the 
Indian  camp  with  its  numerous  bright  fires,  and  to 
listen  to  the  harangues  of  the  chiefs  on  the  subject 
which  had  been  explained  to  them,  and  the  duty  of 
their  listening  to  the  great  chief  of  the  French. 
Some  of  them  soon  learned  to  make  the  sign  of  the 
cross  in  Chinook  jargon,  and  to  sing  the  first  couplet 
of  two  canticles  in  the  same  dialect.  Two  Indian 
children  only  received  baptism,  because  the  parents 
were  afraid  of  that  medicine.  There  were  6  baptisms 
and  2  marriages  were  made.  Mass  was  celebrated 
on  the  last  Sunday  outside  of  the  fort,  in  a  repository 
made  of  matting,  to  give  the  Indians  an  opportunity 
of  witnessing  the  great  ceremony;  the  men  sitting  on 
their  mats  in  a  semicircle  in  front  of  the  altar,  and 
the  women  behind  them.  At  the  mass  as  well  as  at 
the  vespers,  the  two  choirs  of  men  and  women  made 
the  air  resound  with  the    chant    of   their    canticles. 


98  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

And  so  amazed  were  the  Indians,  that  after  the  ser- 
vice was  over,  they  remained  still  long  before 
leaving  their,  places.  Poor  Bro.  Wilson  who,  from  a 
sailor  boy  had  become  a  preacher,  was  looking  at 
this  Catholic  demonstration  at  the  hands  of  the  In- 
dians, with  no  small  astonishment. 

Short  Re-union  of  the  Two  JMissionaries — Objection 
TO    THE    Residence  at  the    Wallamette,    Raised 
— Parting  of  the  Missionaries  for  Winter  Quar- 
ters. 
The  Vicar  General  left  Nesqualy  on  Thursday  and 
reached  Cowlitz  on  Saturday   Sept.   14;  and   leaving 
this  place  four  days  later,  he  arrived  at  Vancouver  on 
the  20th.,  where  he  was  joined,on  Oct.  1st,  by  Father 
Demers,  returning  from  his  mission  of  3  months   and 
10  days  to  the  upper  Columbia.     The   result   of  his 
mission, as  to  baptisms,  was  as  follows:  at  Colville  37; 
of  whites  12,  of  Indians    25;     at    OKanagan    19;  of 
whites  4,  of  Indians  15:     at  Walla  Walla  5;  of  whites 
2,  of  Indians  3:     en  route  12  Indians  were   baj)tized, 
making  the  number  of  baptisms  73 — 18   whites,   and 
5t}  Indians.     The  joy  of  their  re-union  was  increased 
by  the  good  news  that  Governor   Douglas   had   com- 
municated to  the  Vicar  General  on  his  arrival   there, 
<and  which,  on  request,  he  later  gave  in  writing,  viz: 
Fort  Vancouver,  Oct.  9th.,  1839. 
My  dear  Sir :     I  am  directed  to  inform  you  that  the 
governor  and  committee  have  no  further  objection  to 
the  establishment  of   a  Roman   Catholic  Mission  in 
the  Wallamette;  and  you  are  therefore   at  liberty   to 
take  any  means  you  may  consider  necessary  towards 
the  promotion  of  that  object.  I  Remain, My  dear 

Sir,  Yours  very  truly,  James  Douglas. 

Very  Rev.  F.  N.  Blanchet,  V.  G. 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  99 

It  was  on  the  representations  the  good  Dr. 
McLoughlin  had  made,  on  his  late  journey  to  Lon- 
don, that  the  objections  to  a  residence  were  raised. 
On  hearing  this  fact,  the  two  missionaries  began  to 
prepare  themselves  for  departure.  And  being  ready 
to  start  on  Thursday  Oct.  10th.,  they  bade  adieu  to 
their  endeared  congregation,  to  the  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Fort,  and  to  Governor  Douglas,  tender- 
ing him  their  warmest  thanks  for  the  generous 
hospitality  they  had  received;  and,  starting  in  canoes 
they  went  down  the  river  and  landed  at  the  mouth  of 
the  "Wallamette,  where  they  had  supper  together, 
after  which  they  parted  for  their  winter  quarters; 
Father  Demers  for  the  Cowlitz,  and  the  Vicar  General 
for  the  Wallamette  mission,  which  he  reached  early 
on  Saturday,  wjiile  his  dear  confrere  reached  his  mis- 
sion but  on  Sunday,  owing  to  the  heavy  load  in  his 
canoe,  and  the  many  dangerous  rapids  on  the  river. 
On  the  day  after  his  arrival  he  blessed  the  bell  he 
had  brought  with  him,  which  weighed  50R),  had  it 
set  up  40  feet  from  the  ground,  and  began  to  ring  the 
Angelus  three  times  a  day.  The  Vicar  General  who 
had  also  brought  one  which  w^eighed  80 lb,  had  it 
blessed  two  days  before  Christmas,  and  began  to  ring 
the  Angelus  three  times  a  day,  in  honor  of  the 
Incarnation,  and  glory  of  Mary  Immaculate. 

The  hall  of  30x12,  separated  from  the  altar  by  a 
partition,  needed  the  loose  floor  to  be  fixed,  the 
ceiling  and  some  partitions  had  to  be  made;  a  man 
undertook  the  job,  which  he  performed  in  three 
weeks.  Dr.  John  McLaughlin  had  arrived  at  Van- 
couver from  Europe,  by  the  express  boat,  on  Oct.  18. 


100  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

His  visit  to  the  Wallamette  settlement  was  warmly 
greeted  by  all  as  a  father.  Great  was  the  joy  of  the 
people  of  the  two  missions,  in  having  a  priest  to  re- 
main with  each  of  them.  Great  also  was  the  joy  of 
all  in  having  a  high  midnight  mass,  at  Christmas,  in 
both  churches,  which  were  full  to  completion. 
This  closes  the  labors  of  the  missionaries  in  1839. 

Sketch  of  thk  Cowlitz  Mission  by  Rev.  M.   Bemers. 


Cowlitz,  Feb.  5, 1840. 
To  Rev.  F.  C.  Cazeault,  Secretary,  Quebec. 

My  dear  Sir:  Having  returned  on  the  1st  of  Octo- 
ber last  from  a  mission  I  had  given  during  the  summer, 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  Columbia,  I  could  not  have 
the  pleasure  of  staying  very  long  with  the  Vicar  Gen- 
eral. I  had  to  leave  him  on  the  10th  of  the  same 
month  to  take  charge  of  the  mission  on  the  Cowlitz 
river,  which  Rev.  Blanchet  had  left  in  order  to  be  at 
Vancouver  during  the  month  of  September.  This 
separation  did  not  take  place  without  sorrow  as  we 
were  leaving  each  other  not  to  meet  again  for  four 
months;  but  it  was  imposed  upon  us  by  need  and 
duty.  In  effect,  the  permission  of  settling  perma- 
nently in  the  Wallamette  had  been  granted  to  the 
great  advantage  of  its  daily  augmenting  Catholic 
population;  the  Cowlitz  mission  had  not  to  be  ne- 
glected either,  and  it  was  assigned  to  me.  Having 
left  Vancouver  both  on  Thursday,  10th  of  October, 
we  took  supper  together  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wallam- 
ette, after  which  each  one  went  his  way  in  order  to 
be  in  his  respective  place  on  the  following  Sunday, 
which  I  could  not  do,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts 
of  the  men  and  the  active  part  I  took  in  the  labor. 
I  had  with  me  a  half-breed  named  J.  B.  Boucher  and 
three  Indians :  my  canoe  was  large  and  contained  a 
large  quantity  of  luggage,  among  which  was  a  bell 
weighing  50  or  60  pounds.     I  was  therefore  deprived 


CATHOLIC      CHURCH      IN       ORECION.  101 

of  tlie  happiness  of  celebrating*  mass  and  my  people 
of  hearing  it.  As  soon  as  they  heard  1  was  coming, 
all  flocked  to  meet  me.  They  welcomed  me  and 
carried  my  baggage  to  my  residence.  After  my  in- 
stallation I  went  with  my  j^eople  to  pay  tribute  to  a 
cross  erected  near, by. 

The  following  day,  Oct.  14,  a  frame  ./as  erected, 
the  bell  blessed  and  place  in  a  position  40  feet  above 
the  ground.  I  considered  it  an  honor  to  ring  the 
first  Angelus  myself.  A  consecrated  bell  was  heard 
for  the  first  time  in  the  valley  of  the  Cowlitz  as  w^ell 
as  in  the  whole  extent  of  this  vast  country.  Imagine 
a  log  house  30x20  feet,  having  roof  like  a  wolfs  head, 
no  ceiling,  and  a  floor  levelled  with  an  axe,  and  you 
will  have  an  idea  of  the  place  where  I  spent  the  win- 
ter. It  was  also  my  chapel.  They  had  decided  on 
building  another  house  and  had  even  planed  the 
lumber  during  the  preceding  winter,  but  instead  of 
that  they  determined'to  erect,  with  the  same  kind  of 
wood,  a  chapel  60  feet  long,  and  to  leave  the  same 
house  to  the  priest  until  he  could  get  a  better  one. 
The  Cpwlitz  mission  has  still  but  eight  families  in- 
cluding those  of  the  H.  B.  Co., altogether 46  persons, 
exclusive  of  a  few  Indians  who  lived  with  the  French, 
and  a  greater  or  smaller  number  of  employees  accor- 
ding to  the  need..  Three  days  in  the  week  were  set 
apart  for  the  instruction  of  the  Canadians'  wives  and 
children;  the  three  others  were  given  to  the  Indians 
and  to  the  study  of  the  Cowlitz  language  which  is 
very  difficult  for  a  beginner. 

The  young  men  and  the  Indians  who  live  with  the 
French,  being  unable,  on  account  of  their  work,  to 
attend  during  the  day,  I  was  obliged  to  give  them 
part  of  the  nights.  For  1 J  or  2  hours  I  was  kept 
busy  teaching  them  their  prayers,  reading,  the  an- 
swers at  Mass  and  the  way  to  serve  it,  also  the  Plai7i 
Chant, 

At  midnight  mass, on  the  festival  of  Christ  mas,  they 
were  able,  by  the  means  of  repeated  exercises, to  hon- 


102  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

or  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  by  uniting  their  voices  to 
those  of  the  angels  in  the  Gloria  in  excelsis.  Soon  af- 
ter this,  they  could  help  the  priest  in  singing  the  Cre- 
do, The  young  men  of  this  mission,  as  well  as  all 
the  half-breeds  in  general,  who  were  instructed  at 
Fort  Vancouver,  owe  to  the  kind  dispositions  and  de- 
voted cares  of  Dr.  John  McLaughlin  the  knowledge 
they  have  of  the  letter  of  their  Catechism  before 
the  coming  of  the  missionaries;  a  benefit  which  is 
surely  not  the  least  amongst  those  the  Canadians  re- 
ceived at  his  hands,  and  for  which  they  owe  him 
eternal  gratitude. 

Experience  has  taught  us  not  to  rely  too  much  on 
the  first  demonstrations  of  the  Indians  and  not  to 
rely  much  on  the  first  dispositions  they  manifest. 
Those  of  the  Cowlitz  promised  better  success.  Every- 
where we  meet  the  same  obstacles  which  always  re. 
tard  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  namely  polygamy, 
their  adherence  to  the  customs  of  their  ancestors 
and,  still  more,  to  tamamoas,  the  name  given  to  the 
medicines  they  prepare  for  the  sick.  This  tamanwas 
is  generally  transmitted  in  families  and  even  women 
can  pretend  to  the  honor  of  making  it.  If  any  one 
is  sick  they  call  in  the  medicine-man.  No  danger 
of  their  asking  him  what  he  wants  for  his  trouble; 
they  would  be  afraid  of  insulting  him.  Whatever  he 
asks  is  given  to  him,  without  the  least  objection; 
otherwise  they  may  fear  everything  from  that  doctor, 
who  will  not  fail  to  take  his  revenge  for  a  refusal  by 
sending  some  misfortane,  or  some  sickness,  or  even 
death  through  his  medicines  to  the  one  who  refused 
him,  be  he  50  leagues  off.  If  any  one  is  dead,  such 
a  one  killed  him;  then  let  him  look  out  on  whom  the 
least  suspicion  falls;  his  life  is  in  the  greatest  dan- 
ger; the  least  they  will  do  to  him  will  be  to  kill  his 
horses,  if  they  do  not  kill  himself;  and  to  force 
him  to  give  all  that  he  has,  through  fear  of  death.  A 
serious  quarrel  took  place  lately  on  that  account. 
Hand  play  is  also  very   common   among  them,   they 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         103 

get  excited  and  often  end  it  with  a  quarrel.  They 
add  idolatry  to  infidelity.  They  paint  on  a  piece  of 
wood  a  rough  likeness  of  a  human  being  and  keep  it 
very  precious.  They  believe  these  charms  have  a 
superior  power  and  strength,  and  they  pray  to  them. 
When  they  have  exhausted  all  the  resources  of  the 
tamanwas,  which  often  makes  the  evil  worse,  and  the 
sick  man  dies,  they  scarcely  allow  his  eyes  to  close 
before  they  are  covered  with  a  pearl  bandage;  his 
nostrils  are  then  filled  up  with  aikioa,  a  kind  of  shell 
they  use  for  money;  he  is  clad  with  his  best  clothes 
and  wrapped  up  in  a  blanket;  four  posts  are  driven 
into  the  ground;  in  these  posts  holes  are  bored, 
through  which  sticks  are  passed,  upon  which  is 
placed  the  canoe  destined  to  receive  the  corpse 
placed  in  file  with  his  ancestors.  They  place  him 
face  downward  with  his  hiead  pointing  toward  the 
mouth  cf  the  river.  Not  a  handful  of  dust  is  laid 
upon  him;  the  canoe  is  covered  with  a  great  number 
of  mats  and  all  is  over.  Then,  they  present  their 
offerings  to  the  dead.  If  he  w^as  a  chief  or  great 
w^arrior  amongst  his  men,  they  lay  by  his  side  his 
gun,  his  powder  horn  and  his  bag:  valuable  objects, 
such  as,  wooden  plates,  axes,  kettles,  bows,  arrows, 
skins  &c.,  are  placed  upon  sticks  around  his  canoe. 
Then  comes  the  tribute  of  tears  which  the  spouses 
pay  to  each  other  and  to  their  children.  Day  and 
night  for  a  month  or  more,  continuous  weeping, 
shouting  and  wailing  may  be  heard  from  a  great  dis- 
tance. When  the  canoe  gets  rotten  and  falls  on  the 
ground,  the  remains  are  taken  out,  wrapped  up  in 
new  blankets  and  laid  in  a  new  canoe.  They  cling 
so  much  to  this  kind  of  sepulture  that  duiing  the 
winter,  a  child  (baptized)  having  died  without  my 
knowledge,  I  could  not  induce  them  to  take  him  out 
of  the  canoe  in  order  to  give  him  christian  burial. 
This  adhesion  to  burial  rites  and  tamaynfuas  will 
cause  the  missionaries  to  be  more  prudent  in  bap- 
tizing.    We  have  learned  not  to   trust   the   r^jDcated 


104  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

promises  they  make  to  us  not  to  have  recourse  to  the 
tamamoas  if  the  baptized  child  gets  sick.  You  may 
see  that  progress  has  been  very  slow  among  them  so 
far;  their  customs  and  habits  are  so  inveterate  that  it 
will  take  a  long  time,  for  religion  and  the  fear  and 
knowledge  of  God, to  unroot  an'd  destroy  them  entire- 
,  ly.  Polygamy  is  not  as  widely  spread  now  as  it  used 
to  be.  But  there  is  in  both  sexes  a  fearful  immorali- 
ty. It  is  kept  up  and  often  taught  by  the  whites 
v^ho,  by  their  scandalous  conduct  and  boundless  de- 
baucheries, destroy  the  impressions  made  by  the 
truths  of  religion. 

This  year  the  mission  will  lend  to  the  Indians  seed 
to  sow  in  garden  patches,  especially  peas  and  pota- 
toes. Perhaps  they  will  then  try  to  come  out  of  the 
miserable  state  they  are  languishing  in,  w^lien  they 
will  see  that,  with  a  little  trouble  and  labor,  they  can 
ameliorate  it.  The  peas  and  potatoes  may  make 
them  for-^eb  the  grains  and  camas.  I'ime  unables 
me  to  give   greater  extent  to  this  sketch. 

I  am  &c.,  }J.  Demees,   Priest. 

Missionary  Libors  in  18-10.  Missions  to  Vancouver, 
Nesqualy,  Whidby  Island,  Chinook  Point,  Brig- 
ades, COLVILLE,  AND  FiRST   COM.MUNION    AT    St.    PaUL. 

Wearied  with  a  separation  of  four  months.  Rev. 
M.  Demers  left  Cowlitz,  on  Feb.  7th,  for  St.  Paul, 
which  he  reached  on  the  17th,.  having  had  to  brave 
wind  and  rain,  cold  and  snow,  and  s^Dent  three  days 
in  his  journey  to  Vancouver,  where  he  stopped  four 
days,  and  three  other  days  on  his  way  to  St.  Paul. 
He  remained  but  8  days  there,  his  presence  being 
much  needed  at  Vancouver,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
25th,  in  order  to  oppose  the  eiforfcs  minister  Daniel 
Lq^  was  making  amongst  the  Indians  of  the  Fort 
from  January. 


\ 
CATHOLIC  ■  CHURCH     i:n     oeegon.  105 

To  deny  the  necessiij  of  baj)ti>m  is  to  deny  the 
existence  of  original  sin ;  and  to  deny  the  existence 
of  original  sin  is  to  deny  the  necessity  of  a  Kedemp- 
tion,  and  declare  that  religion  is  a  fable  ;  for  such 
are  the  consequences  following  from  the  denial  of 
original  sin  :  and,  alas,  ^uch  was  nevertheless  the 
horrible  and  damnable  doctrine  which  the  Methodist 
ministers  of  VVallamette  preached  formerly  to  the 
Canadians,  saying  :  ^'A  child  is  saved  and  is  a  King 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  without  baptism,  ;  the 
adults  are  also  saved  if  their  hearts  are  good,''  and 
strange  to  say,  that  minister  who  had  failed  with  his 
co-ministers  to  convert  his  countrymen  and  the  Ca- 
nadians, did  not  leave  the  fort  before  giving,  by 
aspersion,  such  a  sham  baptism  to  Indians  ignoring 
God,  Holy  Trinit}^,  Incarnation,  Redemption  and 
any  prayers ;  and  vfho,  in  reaching  the  mission  at 
the  Dalles,  did  the  same  with  ignorant  and  polygam- 
ist  Indians,  giving  to  them  bread  and  wine. 

Rev.  M.  Demers  dividing  his  time  between  the 
servants,  women  and  children  of  the  whites,  and  the 
Indians,  taught  them  all,  and  had  but  little  trouble 
to  undeceive  the  latter,  with  the  help  of  the  Catholic 
Ladder  ;  and  to  bring  them  back  from  the  erroneous 
road  of  Protestantism.  His  mission  lasted  36  days, 
after  which  he  returned  to  Cowlitz  in  April  5,  having 
been  57  days  absent. 

The  Vicar  General  having  prepared  his  letter  for 
the  express  leaving  for  Canada,  left  St.  Paul  on 
March  16,  and  reached  Vancouver  on  the  same  day, 
because  of  the  strong  current  of  the  high  water;  that 
was  the  quickest  trip  ever    made.     One   item  of   liis 


106  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

report  to  Canada  was:  from   March   1839  to   March 
1840,  were  made   204    baptisms,    35    marriages,    14 
burials  and  one  abjuration  at  St.  Paul.     Of  the   bap- 
tisms, 73  on  the  Colville  mission,   71   at  Vancouver;  ' 
30  at  Cowlitz;  19  at  Nesqualy  and  11   at  St.    Paul. 
The  Vicar  General  left  St.    Paul   on   May  4th   on   a 
journey  to  Cowlitz,  in  order  to  deliberate   with  Eev. 
M.  Demers  on  the  plan   of  the    summer    campaign. 
At  Vancouver  he  had  the  pleasure  to  open  two   cases 
of  books,  church  ornaments  and  other  effects,  coming 
from  France;  and  on  the   9th,   the   two  missionaries 
were  embracing  each   other;  but  the  consolation   of 
meeting  together  did  not  last  long,  by  reason  of  the 
Vicar  General,  being  called  by  letter  to  visit   some 
person  that  was  sick,  had  to   leave   on  the   14th   for 
Nesqualy,  where  he  found  Mr.  Kihen,  the  command- 
er of  the  fort,  sick  in  his  bed.     The  exercises   of  the 
mission  at  this  fort   commenced  without   delay,    and 
lasted  from  the  16th  to  the  27th   of   May;    the   fore- 
noon being  devoted  to  the  instruction  of  the  women 
and  children  of  the  Canadians,  and  the   rest   of  the 
day  to  the  Indians,  outside  of  the  Fort.     Mrs.  Kitson 
being  kind  enough,  as  usual,  to  serve  as  interpreter. 
She  having  showed  the  Indian  women  how  to  make 
for  themselves,  robes  of  dressed  deer  skin,  they   ap- 
peared this  time,  dressed  like  the  \ihite  women.    All 
were   regular  at   the    instructions.     In  visiting    the 
lodges  in  the  evening,  the  Vicar  General  was  pleased 
to  see  the  improvements  made,  in  making  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  singing   Chinook   canticles   and  repeating 
what  they  had  learned. 

On   May   18th,  Chief   SaheioamUh   arrived  with  a 
band  of  his  people.     One  of  them   being   sick  with 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         107 

consumption,  was  prepared  for  baptism,  when  one 
day,  his  companions  moved  by  a  superstitious  fear, 
carried  him  away:  It  took  two  days  to  over- 
take him  and  bring  him  back.  He  was  baptized 
with  his  8  children,  at  the  age  of  40;  and  afterwards 
showed  much  faith  and  resignation  to  the  will  of 
God.  The  missionary  expected  to  see,  at  the  mis- 
sion, three  other  chiefs,  called  Tslalakom,Netham,di>Jid. 
WitsJcalatche;  but  the  murder  of  a  man  by  a  Soekwa- 
mish,  having  rendered  travelling  on  that  bay  danger- 
ous, they  did  not  come.  The  priest  was  much  con- 
•soled  on  seeing  the  eagerness  of  the  Indians  to  come 
at  the  first  bell,  to  listen  to  the  explanation  of  the 
CatholiG  Ladder  and  words  of  eternal  life,  under  the 
shade  of  a  large  tree. 

The  Vicar  General  was  preparing  to  close  his  mis- 
sion and  return  to  Cowlitz,  when  on  the  26th  of  May, 
a  canoe  arrived  containing  6  Indians;  they  were 
chief  Tslalakom's  men  and  wife;  sent  by  him,  and 
directed  to  bring  the  priest  to  see  him  and  his  tribe, 
as  he  was  sick  and  unable  to  come  himself;  and  in 
proof  thereof,  his  wife  presented  Vicar  general  with 
a  skin  sheath,  which  was  found  to  contain  the  square 
rule  (Sahale  stick)  he  had  received  on  his  visit  to 
Cowlitz,  in  April  1839.  Thanking  God  for  the  door 
opened  to  him,  the  Vicar  General  started,  on  May 
27th,  in  a  canoe  of  his  own,  landed  at  diiferent 
places  in  the  bay,  to  address  the  words  of  salvation 
to  the  Indians ;  and  arrived  the  following  day,  the 
Ascension  day,  at  Tslalakom  village,  on  the  western 
shore  of  Whidby  Island.  A  battle  had  taken  place  on 
that  very  same  day  between  his  tribe, the  SkcJcioamisk y 


108  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

and  the  Klalams  of  Townsend  Land,  in  which  the  lat- 
ter, who  were  the  aggressors,  lost  two  men,  becaus'e, 
said  Tslalahom,  ''these  men  do  not  know  God,  nor 
pray  to  him."  He  had  tried  to  stop  the  fight,  but  in 
vain.  He  had  been  protected  by  the  cross  he  wore 
on  his  neck.  All  this  explained  the  strange  move- 
ment of  the  Indians,  running  on  the  shore  and  calling 
'*Who  are  you''  [qui  vive)  on  seeing  the  two  canoes 
coasting  along  the  island. 

The  priest,  in  his  black  gown,  was  received  with 
the  greatest  demonstrations  of  joy  by  Tslalakom  and 
his  tribe,  and  his  baggage  seized  and  carried  to  the  ' 
village,  on  the  high  land,  50  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  bay.  On  Friday,  May  29th,  an  altar  tv^as  jDre- 
pared  in  a  repository  made  vv^ith  mats;  a  rough  board 
was  the  altar  table ;  the  vestments  for  mass  and  sa- 
cred vessels  were  ex2D0sed;  a  Catholic  Ladder ,  (j  feet 
by  15  inches,  was  fixed  on  a  mat  and  hoisted  high  on 
a  pole,  before  the  eyes  of  all.  ''I  then  began  the  in- 
struction by  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  Chinook 
jargon,  says  the  Vicar  General  in  his  relation  to  the 
Bishop  of  Quebec,  and  to  my  great  astonishment,  all 
the  assembly,  men,  women,  and  children,  made  the 
same,  pronouncing  the  words  exactly  as  practical 
and  fervent  christians.  I  began  to  sing  the  first 
couplet  of  a  canticle  in  Chinook  jargon,  to  the  air  of 
^^2\t  vas  rem2jlir  le  voeu  de  la  tendresse''  and,  behold, 
to  my  great  astonishment,  all  continued  to  sing  it  to 
the  end,  with  exact  i)i*ecision.  I  began  to  sing  ano- 
ther one  in  the  air  ''je  mets  ma  coiifiance,'^  and  to  my 
increasing  great  astonishment  they  all  continued  the 
stroph  rendering  it  as  well  as   the   first   one.     I  ad- 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         109 

mired  the  success  Tslalakom  had  had  in  teaching  his 
people;  I  blessed  the  Lord  for  the  good  dispositions- 
of  these  poor  Indians.  My  joy  was  great  so  as  to 
move  me  eyen  to  tears,  which,  nevertheless  I  tried  to 
contain  before  the  crowd.'' 

*'I  was  then  dressed  in  surplice,  with  a  stole,  and 
beginning  the  explanation  of  the  Catholic  Ladder^ 
when  chief  Witskatche  arrived  with  a  band  of  his 
tribe  from  another  part  of  the  island,  and  came  to 
shake  hands;  chief  Nettam  soon  came  also  with  his 
bands.  All  the  chiefs  sat  in  front,  the  rest  behind 
and  on  the  sides.  That  was  indeed  quite  a  large 
meeting.  I  then  began  to  dress  for  mass,  and  to 
explain  the  mass,  the  great  prayer  of  the  Catholics. 
In  the  whole  assembly  making  the  sign  of  the  cross 
and  ringing  the  aforesaid  couplets  of  canticles,  I  be- 
came convinced  that  Nettam  and  Wltskatche  had  not 
done  less  than  TdalaJcom  with  their  tribes.  The 
Catholic  Ladders  distributed  at  Nesqualy,  the  pre- 
ceding year,  had  been  used  and  explained,  and  the 
chant  of  canticles  practiced.  The  two  canticles  were 
repeated  alternately  daring  the  whole  Mass.  In  ad- 
miration of  what  I  heard  and  saw,  I  thought  I  was  in 
heaven,  rather  than  in  an  Indian  country.  Tears  of 
joy  fell  again  from  my  eyes.  An  infinite  satisfaction 
had  been  offered  to  God  for  the  sins  of  these  poor 
people.  There  was  a  hope.  Other  bands  of  Indians 
arrived  after  Mass,  and  among  them  a  Klahim  who 
spoke  in  favor  of  peace.  I  continued  the  instruction 
till  night,  and  the  day  ended  by  prayer,  rosary,  and 
the  chant  of  canticles.  The  body  of  the  Klam  killed 
in  the  battle  was  found  and  buried  by  the  ojd  men, for 


110  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

tlie  young  men  would  not  touch  a  corpse,  fearing  that 
it  would  shorten  their  days/' 

On  Saturday,  May  30th,  a  large  number  of  Indians 
arrived  from  various  parts  of  the  island,  who  showed 
themselves  as  attentive  to  the  instructions  and  as  col- 
lected at  Mass,  as  the  day  before.  Desiring  to  visit 
the  Island,  I  directed  my  steps  towards  the  north, 
passed  through  beautiful  prairies,  forests  of  large 
trees,  fields  of  potatoes,  made  with  no  other  instru- 
ment than  a  curved  stick,  and  arjrived  at  the  house  of 
NeiAum,  situate  on  the  eastern  point  of  the  Island. 
It  was  a  house  made  of  logs,  30x20,  ceiled,  and  fur- 
nished inside  with  a  ta^Destry  of  mats,  with  an  open- 
ing in  the  center  to  let  the  smoke  out.  Netlum  re- 
ceived me  with  great  attention  and  showed  me  the 
place  to  sit  down  on  a  pile  of  folded  mats.  There 
was  no  polygamy  in  this  house,  as  generally  prac- 
ticed by  the  other  chiefs.  I  regretted  very  much  to 
have  no  time  to  instruct,  baptize  and  bless  this  in- 
teresting couple.  After  prayer  and  chant  of  canti- 
cles, I  went  to  the  shore  and  found  15  lodges  of  In- 
dians, who  had  never  seen  the  hlackgown.  In  seeing 
me,  they  cried  out,  and  placing  themselves  in  a  line, 
men,  women,  and  children,  to  the  number  of  over 
150,  they  came  to  touch  my  hand,  a  ceremony  of 
etiquette;  after  which  they  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  sang  the  Chinook  jargon  canticles,  which 
they  had  learned,  as  well  as  the  other  tribes.  I  ad- 
vised them  to  come  to  Mass  and  to  bring  their  chil- 
dren for  baptism  on  the  following  day.  I  left  them 
full  of  joy  in  order  to  return  to  my  tent,  where  I 
found  a  large  reunion   of    Indians,  who   listened   at- 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  Ill 

tentively  to  my  instruction,  which  was  protracted  late 
in  the  evening,  notwithstanding  a  high  wind,  the 
noise  of  the  waves  and  foliage. 

On  Sunday,  May  31,  Netlmn  arrived  early  with  his 
band  of  Skachates,  their  women  and  children.  Next 
appeared  at  the  head  of  his  band,  the  Siiehomish,  ac- 
companied by  inferior  chiefs,  WitsJcalatche,  sur- 
named  Ze  Francais,  clad  in  full  French  costume, 
trowsers,  shirt,  vest,  overcoat  garnished  with  quills 
of  porcupine,  hat  and  cravat.  Tslalakom  came  also 
with  his  band  of  SocJcwamish;  all  placed  themselves 
according  to  rank,  to  the  number  of  400.  The  exer- 
cises of  the  preceding  day  were  repeated  with  the 
same  spirit  and  zeal  as  on  the  previous  day,  before 
and  during  holy  mass.  My  emotion  was  great  at  the 
sight  of  such  a  multitude  of  Indians,  so  eager  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven;  and  at  the  chant,  so  pure  and  so 
expressive  by  the  many  voices,  whose  accent  so  nat- 
ural, seemed  to  me  to  surpass  in  beauty  the  harmony 
of  the  most  learned  compositions  of  music  masters; 
it  was  so  great  that  I  could  not  master  it. 

The  holy  mass  being  over,  the  dinner  of  salmon 
and  smoked  deer  I  had  ordered,  were  seiTed  on  mats 
before  the  chiefs:  all  were  filled  with  joy:  then  fol« 
lowed  the  great  smoking  of  the  calumet  of  peace  and 
union  between  the  tribes.  In  the  midst  of  the  joy. 
ous  and  noisy  chatting,  was  heard  a  great  crying  out; 
all  rose  up  and  saw  a  heavy  wooden  cross,  twenty -four 
feet  long,  in  the  arms  of  numerous  Indians  who  were 
advancing  towards  the  spot  j)repared  for  it;  it 
being  solemnly  blessed,  and  erected,  all  following 
the  example  of  the   blackgoim,  went  and   prostrated 


112  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

themselves  and  venerated  it.  Then  followed  the 
chant  of  canticles  by  this  joyous  multitude  of  Indians 
rendering  homage  to  God  and  Jesus  Christ,  for  the 
first  time.  To  this  moving  spectacle  succeeded 
another  one,  the  baptism  of  the  children.  The  mo- 
thers and  the  children  were  placed  in  two  lines, 
leaving  an  alley  in  the  center  for  me  to  move,  and 
also  for  the  fathers  of  the  children.  I  again  explain- 
ed the  fall  of  man,  the  mystery  of  redemption,  the 
medicine  of  baptism.  I  required  of  all  a  profession 
of  faith  and  an  abjuration:  and  all  were  loudly  an- 
swering: ''Yes,  we  believe  in  God  who  created  all 
things.  Yes,  we  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  who  came 
to  redeem  us.  Yes,  we  believe  He  has  made  seven 
medicines  to  make  us  good.  Yes,  we  believe  He 
has  made  but  one  road  to  heaven.  Yes,  we  promise 
to  keep  and  follow  the  road  of  the  hlackgown^  which 
is  that  Jesus  Christ  made.  Yes,  we  reject  all  other 
roads  lately  made  by  men.  Yes,  we  renounce  the 
devil,  his  thoughts,  words  and  deeds.  Yes,  we  de- 
sire to  know,  love  and  serve  the  great  master  of  all 
things.'' 

Then  began  the  ceremonies  of  solemn  baptism, 
which  lasted  four  hoiu's,  during  which  time  I  bap- 
tized 122  children.  The  heat  was  very  oppressive; 
the  children  Avere  scared,  and  crying,  and  soon  all 
retired. 

■Monday,  June  1,  was  spent  in  the  ordinary  in- 
struction and  exercises.  Tuesday,  June  2,  was  fixed 
for  my  departure,  to  the  great  sorrow  of  the  poor  In- 
dians; I  recommended  the  chiefs  to  encourage  their 
people  to  follow  the  road  of  the   blackgoim,  and  urge 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         11 S 

the  conclusion  of  peace  before  the  leaving  of  the* 
priest.  For  that  pur j)ose,  WitsJcalatche  ^2i^  deputed 
to  the  SkeicamUhs',  and,  in  changing  my  route  for 
Nesqualy,  I  had  the  happiness  to  contribute  to  the 
reconciliation  of  two  tribes.  Having  given  my  great 
Catholic  Ladder  to  Netlam,  he  offered  to  carry  me  to 
Nesqualy  in  his  large  wooden  canoe,  which  with  13 
men,  was  still  light.  My  canoe  was  carried  over  to- 
JVetlam^s  place,  and  I  started  on  that  day.  In  coast- 
ing along  the  island  I  saw  forts  18  or  20  feet  high, 
raised  by  the  Indians  to  protect  then^elves  against 
the  YugoUah  of  Eraser  river.  I  visited  several  tribes, . 
and  in  one  village  125  came  to  touch  my  hand,  and 
were  found  able  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  ta 
sing  the  Chinook  canticles.  I  stopped  all  night  at 
the  village  of  the  Skehamish^  the  Indians  who  had 
been  fighting.  At  this  place  about  140  came  to- 
touch  my  hand,  and  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
sung  the  canticles  equally  as  well  as  the  other  tribes. 
Sehalapahen,  their  chief,  who  had  visited  Father 
Demers  at  Cowlitz,  had  taught  them  what  he  had 
learned  himself.  On  Wednesday,  June  3,  I  solemnly 
baptized  96  children;  after  which  took  place  the 
meeting  for  the  conclusion  of  peace,  which  lasted 
nearly  four  hours.  My  address  was  transmitted  by 
my  interpreter  to  a  third  one,  who  delivered  it  to  the 
chiefs  with  an  astonishing  eloquence.  After  manj 
and  long  harangues,  it  was  concluded  that  the  Skek^ 
wamish  should  pay  two  guns  to  the  Klalams  for  the 
two  men  killed.  Witslakatche  iceQQi\edi  the  guns  and 
carried  them  to  the  Klalams,  who,  according  to  cus- 
tom, would  give   something  in  return.     Thus  was. 


114  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

peace  concluded.  I  then  started  at  3  p.  m.,  travelled 
all  Thursday,  and  reached  Nesqualy  on  Friday,  and 
found  Mr.  Kitsen  better,  and  started  at  2  p.  m.  for 
Cowlitz,  which  I  reached  on  Saturday,  June  6,  at  10 
p.m.  The  fruits  of  the  mission  were:  9  baptisms 
at  Nesqualy  218,  at  Whidby,  6  en  route,  total  233. 

Many  of  the  Chinook  tribe  had  already  seen  the 
hlacJcgown  at  fort  Vancouver,  and  had  had  their  chil- 
dren baptized;  but  they  had  not  yet  been  visited  in 
their  own  land.  The  time  having  arrived  to  visit 
them  at  home,  Kev.  M.  Demers  left  Cowlitz  on  May 
19th,  and  arrived  at  Astoria  on  the  2].  The  long- 
expected  ship  bringing  from  the  East,  Jason  Lee, 
with  a  number  of  other  Methodist  ministers,  their 
wives  and  several  young  ladies,  had  just  crossed  the 
bar;  they  were  to  be  distributed  all  over  the  country, 
in  opposition  to  the  Catholic  missionaries.  On  the 
following  day,  Eev.  M.  Demers  went  on  his  mission, 
and  fixed  his  tent  among  the  Chinooks.  lie  met 
there  Daniel  Lee,  the  preacher,  who,  after  a  few 
days  left  him  a  clear  stage,  being  in  a  hurry,  no 
doubt,  to  visit  the  ship  in  order  to  have  the  first 
choice  for  a  wife  among  the  young  misses.  As  to  the 
Eev.  M.  DemerSj  a  little  bell  in  one  hand,  and  a  Ca- 
tholic Ladder  in  the  other,  he  continued  his  mission 
for  three  weeks,  instructing  the  adults,  baptizing  the 
children,  and  doing  much  good.  He  returned  home 
much  satisfied,  after  an  absence  of  26  days.  He  re- 
mained but  two  days  with  the  Vicar  General,  having 
to  leave  on  June  15th,  for  Vancouver,  in  order  to  ad- 
minister to  the  Brigades  going  Noi-th  and  South,  be- 
fore leaving  for  the  Colviile  mission. 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         115 

After  Kev.  M.  Demers  had  left  Cowlitz,  the  Vicar 
General  remained,  in  order  to  be  present  at  the 
erection  of  a  new  chapel  measuring  25x50,  which 
took  place  on  June  17;  and  leaving  on  the  19th,  he 
reached  Vancouver  on  Sunday  morning,  remained 
four  days  with  his  dear  confrere^  and  arrived  at  St. 
Paul  on  June  21st,  after  an  absence  of  54  days. 

Rev.  M.  Demers^  having  given  a  mission  of  10 
days  at  Vancouver,  started  on  June  29,  with  the  Bri- 
gade of  the  Porteurs, commanded  by  chief  Factor  Og- 
den;  was  at  Grandes  Dalles  portage  on  July  5th;  at 
Walla  Walla  on  the  10th,  reached  the  Palouse  river 
safely,  half  way  between  Walla  Walla  and  Colville 
and  arrived  at  last  at  the  end  of  his  far  distant 
mission,  having  suffered  much  by  the  heat  of  the  sun 
and  the  want  of  water  for  himself  and  his  horses. 
Having  completed  his  mission  at  Colville,  he  returned 
by  way  of  Okanagan  and  Walla  Walla,  reaching 
Vancouver  on  Oct.  2,  just  three  months  and  six  days 
after  he  had  left  it.  After  a  few  days  of  rest,  he 
started  for  St.  Paul,  which  he  reached  on  Oct.  11. 
They  both  started  together  for  Vancouver  on  the  17th 
in  order  to  give  that  place  a  mission  of  fourteen  days 
before  going  to  their  winter  quarters;  after  which 
the  Vicar  General  reached  Wallamette  Oct.  31st., 
and  Rev.  M.  Demers  reached  Cowlitz  on  the  same 
day,  after  an  absence  of  four  months  and  eighteen 
days  from  home.  At  St.  Paul  7  persons  were  found 
sufficiently  prepared  to  make  their  first  communion 
in  December.  It  was  during  his  mission  at  Colville 
that,  hearing  there  was   a  priest   somewhere   among 


dlG  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

tlie  Indians  of  the  Eocky  mountains,  lie  announced 
the  fact  to-  the  Vicar  General  by  a  letter  which  reach- 
ed him  on  August  30th. 

The  causes  which  led  to  the  presence  of  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries among  the  Indians  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
^are  of  such  historical  interest  that  we  give  them: — 
A  large  number  of  Canadians  and  Iroquois  were 
^employed  by  the  Companies  trading  among  the  In- 
dians of  the  Pacific  Coast,  as  well  as  by  the  various 
expeditions  by  sea  and  by  land.  That  of  Capt.  Hunt, 
which  started  in  1811,  had  great  hardships  to  en- 
dure, and  loss  of  men  to  suffer  by  desertion,  in  1812; 
of  the  number  were  24  Iroquois  who  joined  the  Flat- 
.head  nation.  They  soon  married  and  had  families. 
And  as  the  Canadians  were  the  first  apostles  among 
the  Indians  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  so  also  were  the  24 
Iroquois  among  the  Flatheads;  speaking  to  them  of 
^heir  religion,  churches,  priests,  and  festivals.  The 
Flatheads  who  were  naturally  good,  were  pleased. 
They  sent  a  deputation  to  St.  Louis  about  1830,  in 
order  to  ascertain  about  what  the  Iroquois  related. 
Soon  after  arriving,  they  took  sick,  called  for  the 
priest,  were  baptized,  and  expired  kissing  the  cruci- 
fix. The  nation  sent  another  deputation  of  one  Iro- 
quois, in  1832;  he  arrived  safe  at  St.  Louis,  had  his 
children  baptized,  and  was  returning  home  with  some 
hope  of  soon  having  priests  for  his  countrymen  and 
adopted  nation;  but  he  was  killed  by  the  Sioux  In- 
dians. A  third  deputation  was  sent  in  1839,  calling 
for  priests.  This  time,  the  deputation  consisting  of 
two  Iroquois,  returning  in  the  fall,  started  with  the 
full  hope  that  some  priests  would  be  sent  on  the  fol 


CATHOLIC   CHUECH   IN   OSEGON.         Ill 

lowing  year;  for  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Rosati,  having- 
written  to  the  Superior  General  of  the  Jesuits  at 
Rome,  begging  him  earnestly  to  take  charge  of  that 
mission,  had  received  a  favorable  reply.  Hence 
the  appointment  of  Father  De  Smet,  who  came  in- 
the  spring  of  1840,  passed  two  months  among  the 
Flatheads,  baptized  350,  and  went  home,  to  return 
in  1841.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  Flathead  mission,, 
and  the  apostleship  of  the  Iroquois,  who,  when"  the 
pretended  missionaries,  Jason  Lee,  and  others,  pre- 
sented themselves  to  the  Flatheads  in  1834,  told  them 
''These  are  not  the  priests  we  have  spoken  to  you 
about.  They  are  not  the  priests  with  long  black 
gowns,  who  have  no  wives,  say  mass  and  carry  a  cru- 
cifix with  them."  Rev.  M.  Demers  had  at  last  a  cor- 
respondence with  Father  De  Smet,  and  brought 
down  the  following  with  him: 

Letter  of  Rev.  FatlierDe  Smet,  S.  J.,  to  Very  Rev.  F.    X.  Blan- 
cliet,  V.  G, 

Fork  of  Jefferson,  Eiver,  Aug.  10th  1840. 
Very  Rev.  Sir  : — The  present  which  I  have  the  honor  ■ 
to  write  will  surprise  your  Reverence,  as  coming  from  one 
unknown,  but  in  quality  of  a  co-operator  in    the  Vineyard . 
of  the  Lord,  and  in  a  so  far  remote  country,  it  cannot  be 
disagreeable  to  you.     I  wish  I  could  have  leisure  to  give 
your  Reverence  some  details  of  my  mission  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  but  Mr.  Bruette  who  is  so  kind  as  to  carry  my 
letter  to  Fort  Colville,  just  ready  to  start,  gives  me  but  a  few 
minutes  to  write.    Your  Reverence  will  then  learn  that  Mgr. 
Rosati,  Bishop  of  St.  Louis,  in  concert  with  my  provincial, 
superior  of  the  company  in  Missouri,   and  in  compliance 
with  the  desires  often  repeated  by  the  Tetes  Plates  and 
Pend  d'OreiUes,  and  a  great  number  of  JVez  PerceSj  has^ 
sent  me.  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  visit  these  nations.    I 
have  found  the  two  first  in  the  best  desirable  dispositions, 
well  resolved  to  stand  by  the  true  children  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  few  weeks  I  had  the  happiness  to  pass  among  them,. 


118  SKETCHES       OF      THE 

have  been  the  happiest  of  my  Hfe,  and  give  me  the  firm 
hope,  with  the  grace  of  God,  to  see  soon  renewed  in 
these  countries,  so  long  forsaken,  the  fervor  of  the  first 
Christians.  Since  I  am  among  them,  I  give  three,  four  or 
five  instructions  a  day  ;  they  cannot  be  tired  ;  all  come  to 
my  lodge  at  the  first  ringing  of  the  bell;  they  are  anxious  to 
lose  none  of  my  words  relating  to  these  instructions  on 
heavenly  subjects ;  and,  if  I  had  the  strength  to  speak  ta 
them,  they  would  willingly  listen  to  me  whole  days  and 
nights.  I  have  baptized  about  200  of  their  little  children, 
and  expect  to  baptize  in  a  short  time  150  adults. 

The  object  of  my  mission  was  to  visit  a  great  part  of  the 
territory  of  Oregon,  and  make  reports  to  my  Bishop  and 
Superior,  on  the  most  favorable  places  to  open  missions. 
But  I  have  found  so  many  good  dispositions  among  the  In- 
dians of  the  plains,  that  I  have  changed  the  plan  of  my 
journey.  I  will  return  to  St.  Louis  before  the  winter,  and 
will  be  back  next  spring,  with  a  caravan  of  missionaries, 
who  are  already  preparing  themselves.  The  Soshones  and 
Serpens  (Snakes)  desire  "to  have  an  establishment;  the 
Tetes  Mates  Rud  Pend  d^Oreilles  have  nothing  more  at 
heart.  The  Nez  Perces  seemed  to  be  tired  with  these  self- 
dubbed  ministers  afe77imes,  and  show  a  great  predilection 
in  favor  of  Catholic  priests.  We  will  therefore  have  enough 
to  occupy  ourselves  in  these  mountains  without  extending  any 
further  into  the  land.  I  hope,  nevertheless,  that  before  the 
winter  of  1841,  I  will  have  the  honor  to  pay  a  visit  to  your 
Reverence,  in  order  to  have  the  aid  of  your  counsels,  and 
work  in  concert  to  gain  these  poor  nations  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Please  present  my  respects  to  Rev.  M.  Demers. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc. 

P.  J.  De  SMET,  S.  J.,  MiSSIONER. 


Missionary  Labors  in  1841  ax  Vancouver,  Clackamas y 
Falls  of  the  Wallamette  and  Cascades. 

The  two  missionaries  had  been  separated  nearly 
four  months  and  a  half,  since  last  fall.  The  place  of 
their  re-union  was  Fort  Vancouver.  Eev.  M.  Demers 
leaving  Cowlitz  on  March  3rd,  reached  Vancouver  on 
the  6th.,  and  began  at  that  place  a  mission   of   26 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN  OREGON.         110 

days,  with  the  usual  daily  exercises,  in  the,  morning,, 
afternoon  and  evening ;  and  returned  home  April 
3rd  the  eve  of  Palm  Sunday,  after  an  absence  of  31 
days. 

There  were  three  Indian  tribes  which  had  been 
gained  to  Methodism  for  over  a  year,  viz :  those  of 
Clackamas,  Wallamette  Fall,  and  Cascades.  The 
two  missionaries  had  been  too  busy  to  visit  them  be- 
fore. A  door  was  opened  to  them  this  year  in  the 
following  manner  :  A  chief  of  the  Clackamas  tribe 
called  PoA  ;i:)oA ,  went  to  St.  Paul  in  February;  he 
saw  there  the  orphan  boys  in  charge  of  the  Catholic 
mission,  some  Indian  families  and  other  persons, 
numbering  over  15.  He  assisted  at  the  daily  exer- 
cises and  explanation  of  the  Catholic  Ladder,  He 
was  a  Methodist,  and  the  Corypheus  of  the  sect,  but 
on  looking  at  the  Ladder  and  seeing  the  crooked  road 
of  Protestantism  made  by  men  in  the  16th  century,  he 
at  once,  abjured  Methodism,  to  embrace  the  straight 
road  made  by  Jesus  Christ ;  and  returning  home  he 
invited  the  missionary  to  visit  his  tribe. 

The  Vicar  General  was  pleased  with  the  invitation . 
He  left  St.  Paul  on  March  11th,  to  meet  Father 
Demers  at  Vancouver,  and  he  stopped  on  his  way  at 
the  Wapato  Lake,  which  is  but  a  few  miles  below  the 
Clackamas  river,  where  the  Indians  of  the  Clackamas 
tribes  were  assembled  to  dig  the  Wapato  root,  (a  kind 
of  potatoe)  on  the  right  shore  of  the  Wallamette.  He 
was  received  by  chief  Foh  poh,  and  gave  the  tribe  a 
mission  of  4  days  with  the  usual  exercises  of  the  ex- 
planation of  the  Catholic  Ladder,  etc.  Mass*  was 
celebrated  on  Sunday  14th  and  following  days.    That 


120  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

great  celebration  was  astonishing  to  them.  Although 
they  had  been  for  two  years  under  the  teaching  of 
Bro.  Perkins,  till  the  fall  of  1840,  and  under  that  of 
Bro.  Waller  since  then,  they  listened  to  the  mission- 
ary for  four  days  with  pleasure.  The  fruits,  of  the 
mission  were  the  baptism  of  11  children  and  an  adult, 
in  danger  of  death.  It  w^as  also  the  beginning  of 
their  abandonment  of  Methodism.  He  reached  Van- 
couver on  the  15th.  On  returning  from  thence,  March 
24th,  he  gave  them  two  other  days,  celebrated  Mass 
on  the  25th,  baptized  an  adult,  the  wife  of  chief 
Wesamiis  in  danger  of  death  on  the  26th,  and  reached 
St.  Paul  on  Saturday  27th,  after  an  absence  of  17 
days.  Chief  Fohpoh  returned  to  St.  Paul,  in  April 
in  order  to  learn  more,  and  strenghten  his  faith.  He 
returned  after  8  days  hence  with  a  Ladder,  a  red  flag, 
bearing  a  cross,  to  be  hoisted  on  Sunday.  He  was 
overjoyed. 

One  of  the  items  sent  to  Quebec,  Canada,  was  : 
''from  March  1840  to  March  1841,  were  performed  : 
Baptisms  510  ;  marriages  12,  burials  11,  communions 
60  ;  one  abjuration  at  St.  Paul.  Of  the  510  baptisms 
233  were  made  by  the  Vicar  General  at  Nesqualy  and 
Whidby  Island  ;  164  by  Father  Demers  at  Chinook, 
Cowlitz  and  Colville  missions  ;  the  rest,  113,  at  Van- 
couver and  St.  Paul.  Of  the  510  baptisms,  about 
410  Indians,  100  whites  and  40  adults." 

The  Wallamette  Fall  Indian  village  was  on  the 
west  bank  below  the  fall.  Its  chief  w^as  Wesamiis. 
The  time  to  visit  having  arrived,  the  Vicar  General 
left  St.  Paul,  after  the  celebration  of  Easter,  and  ar- 
rived there  on  April  29th.     On  his  arrival,  he  made 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  121 

known  to  the  chief  the  object  of  his  visit.  The  proud 
chief  answered  :  ''Begone  !  Away,  away  with  you  : 
we  don't  want  you/'  Such  a  rough  reception  did  not 
discourage  the  missionaiy.  He  soon  learned  that  the 
chief  had  been  very  much  offended  because  the  Clack- 
amas tribe  had  been  visited  before  his  own.  On  ex- 
planation, he  became  calmer,  and,  at  last,  seemed  to 
be  satisfied.  Then  began  a  mission  of  7  days  of  hard 
work  ;  the  missionary  being  obliged  to  run  every  day 
after  these  lazy  Indians,  to  bring  them  to  his  tent, 
and  assist  at  the  several  exercises.  The  holy  Mass 
was  celebrated  on  the  3rd  day,  a  Sunday,  and  the 
following  days.  The  sight  of  the  altar,  vestments, 
sacred  vessels,  and  great  ceremonies  were  drawing 
their  attention  a  great  deal  more  than  the  cold,  una- 
vailable and  lay  service  of  Bro.  Waller.  There  seemed 
to  be  more  attention  given  to  the  ringing  of  the  bell, 
and  the  mission  exercises.  The  missionary  had  at 
last  the  consolation  to  see  the  poor  Indians  make  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  say  the  offering  of  the  heart,  call 
the  7  medicines,  sing  a  short  prayer  before  and  after 
meals,  and  also  the  Chinook  canticles.  11  children 
were  baptized  and  9  families  out  of  ten  had  been  res- 
cued from  Bro.  Waller.  On  the  fourth  day  of  the 
mission  arrived  JPohpoh  with  some  of  his  people.  He 
complained  very  much  that  when  his  flag  was  hoisted 
on  Sunday,  Mr.  Waller  pulled  it  down  to  the  great 
displeasure,  even  of  those  of  his  own  sect.  On  an- 
other day  there  came  some  Indians  of  Clatsop.  On 
seeing  the  altar,  ornaments  and  vestments,  they  said: 
*'Mr.  Frost  is  far  from  showing  us  such  things.'' 
That  same  day  an  Indian  reported  that  Keiinsno  ohiet 


122  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

of  the  Indians  below  Vancouver,  said  to  his  people  : 
* 'Follow  the  priest  if  you  like,  for  myself,  I  am  too 
bad,  I  am  unable  to  change.  I  will  die  the  same.'' 
Additional  Incidents  in  1840. 
The  following  incidents  showing  the  dispositions  of 
the  Indians  are  worthy  of  being  mentioned:  A 
Snohomish  chief  came  to  Cowlitz  in  the  fall,  to  see 
the  priest  and  tell  him  that  the  timber  for  a  house  of 
prayer,  recommended  by  the  Black  gown,  had  been 
prepared  and  was  ready  for  erection.  He  came  to 
have  a  priest  to  direct  the  work.  He  was  much  dis- 
appointed in  being  obliged  to  return  home  alone. 
Harkely,  a  chief  from  Yakima,  came  down  to  St. 
Paul  in  the  fall,  with  his  family  and  some  of  his  peo- 
ple. After  three  weeks  of  instruction,  he  returned 
home  with  a;  chaplet,  a  cross,  some  images  and  a 
Catholic  Ladder,  and  used  to  explain  it  to  his  people 
on  a  Sunday.  A  chief  from  O'Kanagan  sent  word  to 
St.  Paul,  asking  what  to  do;  that  he  was  ready  to 
come  down  with  his  people  next  spring,  if  so  recom- 
mended. A  Priest's  Rapids  chief,  on  the  Columbia, 
<}ame  down  to  St.  Paul  in  the  fall,  with  his  wife, 
three  children  and  a  brother-in-law.  He  passed  the 
winter  there,  got  instructed,  learned  his  prayers,  and 
was  baptized,  under  the  name  of  Joseph,  with  his 
family.  Father  Demers  gave  a  mission  of  nine  eays 
to  the  O'Kanagan  Indians,  on  returning  from  Colville. 
On  November  20th.  1840,  he  blessed  and  occupied  a 
new  house  at  Cowlitz.  From  that  date,  the  log  chapel 
ceased  to  be  his  lodging  place.  It  was  made  more 
decent  by  ceiling  the  sanctuary  with  mats  and  orna- 
menting the  altar  table  with  vases. 


catholic     church    in     oregon.  1215 

Various  Missions  in  1841. 

From  his  Mission  at  Wallamette  falls,  the  Vicar 
General  went,  on  May  6th,  to  the  Clackamas  tribe,, 
which  he  had  already  visited  in  March,  at  the  Wajjeto 
lake.  The  usual  daily  exercises  were  continued  at 
the  ringing  of  the  bell  for  nine  days.  Bro.  Waller  came 
and  called  him  an  intruder.  His  Evmigelical  Ladder 
was  brought  near  the  Catholic  one  ;  the  Indians  pro- 
nounced themselves  in  favor  of  the  latter;  twelve 
lodges  were  gained.  Being  obliged  to  return  to  St. 
Paul  on  the  15th,  Eev.  M.  Demers,  being  at  Van. 
couver,  came  to  replace  him.  He  continued  the 
mission  for  two  weeks,  giving  some  days  to  the  Wal- 
amette  tribe  and  the  rest  to  that  of  the  Clackamas. 
It  was  on  that  occasion  that  Wesamus^  the  Corypheus 
of  Bro,  Waller  was  gained. 

From  the  Clackamas,  Father  Demers  returned  to 
Vancouver,  to  administer  to  the  Brigades  of  north  and 
south,  after  which  he  went  home  to  teach  catechism. 
And  as  the  Colville  mission  m  as  being  omitted  this 
year,  because  of  Father  De  Smet  being  expected  to 
come  down  that  way,  and  it  had  been  resolved  that 
Fathe];  Demers  would  go  this  year  to  the  Sound,  ho 
started  on  August  11th,  went  to  Nesqualy  and 
thence  to  the  bay.  He  visited  many  tribes,  besides 
those  seen  by  the  Vicar  General;  he  traveled 
from  one  nation  to  another,  accompanied  by  chief 
TdalaJcmn  and  many  other  great  chiefs.  His  travel- 
ing was  a  triumphal  one,  surrounded  sometimes  by 
600  and  other  times  by  3,000  Indians,  who,  hostile  to 
each  other,  were  peacable  in  the   presence   of  the 


124  .  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

Hack  gown.  He  often  passed  whole  days  in 
teaching,  with  a  Ladder  10  by  2J  feet,  these  poor 
Indians  so  desirous  of  heavenly  things,  and  continu- 
ing late  at  night  to  sing,  pray  and  hear  the  harangues 
of  the  chiefs  repeating  what  they  had  learned.  It 
was  a  beautiful  and  consoling  spectacle  to  see  tribes 
who  had  never  seen  the  black  gmon,  able  to  sign,them* 
selves,  sing  and  pray  around  the  Ladder,  when  the 
priest  was  giving  the  hand  to  a  new  comer.  From 
the  bay  he  passed  to  Fort  Langlay  on  the  Fraser 
river.  There  were  new  triumphs  among  the  KawiU 
shins.  There  ended  his  mission,  and  on  September 
24th,  he  was  at  home,  having  made  765  baptisms, 
and  been  44  days  absent. 

In  the  beginning  of  June,  Commodore  Wilkes  left 
Vancouver  on  a  visit  to  the  Willamette  valley,  and 
took  dinner  with  the  Vicar  General  at  his  residence 
at  St.  Paul.  He  told  him  that  on  seeing  a  cross  on 
Whitby  Island,  he  called  it  the  Cross  Island,  The 
Vicar  General  having  promised  Father  Demers  that 
he  would  visit  Cowlitz  during  his  absence,  started 
June  14th,  for  that  place.  On  returning  he  gave  a 
mission  of  14  days  at  Vancouver.  It  was  on  that 
occasion  that  Commodore  Wilkes, assisted  with  several 
officers  of  his  staff  and  Dr.  McLaughlin , at  High  Mass 
and  vespers  on  a  Sunday.  It  was  a  solemn  day.  The 
following  Sunday,  though  the  Commodore  w^as  ab- 
sent, the  ceremony  was  not  less  solemn.  A  house  62 
by  25  was  raised  in  March,  at  St.  Paul,  to  serve  as  a 
hall  for  the  people  on  Sunday  and  a  lodging  for  the 
priest. 

The  next  mission  to  be  made  was  that  of  the  Cas- 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH       IN       OREGON.  125 

cade  tribe  wliicli  had  never  been  visited  by  the  blacli 
gown,  l^amakoon,  its  chief,  had  already  been  a  con- 
vert since  1839,  at  the  sight  and  explanation  of  the 
Catholic  Ladder.  He  had  met  many  times,  the 
assaults  and  eiForts  of  the  Methodist  preachers,  but 
all  in  vain;  he  remained  unmoved.  He  was  glad  to 
see  le  plete  arrive  on  September  17th.  His  tribe 
contained  from  150  to  200.  The  daily  exercises  of 
mass,  etc.,  began  and  was  continued  for  10  days, 
and  the  poor  Indians,  in  part,  began  to  sing  and  sign 
themselves  and  to  pray.  TamaJcoon  received  a  bell 
and  a  Ladder  to  be  used  on  Sunday.  He  was  able  to 
speak  on  it  for  several  hours.  Thirty-four  children 
were  baptised. 

From  the  Cascades  the  Vicar  General  passed  to  the 
Clackamas,  on  November  30th.  That  was  his  third 
visit.  It  lasted  13  days  with  the  usual  exercises.  A 
high  cross  was  blessed  and  erected  on  October  2d. 
Bro.  Waller,  hearing  that  the  Indians  were  willing 
to  build  a  chapel,  came  and  made  a  noise;  all  had 
left  him  save  a  few.  Eleven  children  were  baptised; 
in  all  41,  with  30  before.  The  Vicar  General  left 
them  on  October  12th  for  St.  Paul. 

The  Vicar  General  left  St.  Paul  for  the  Cowlitz  on 
November  15th.  Meeting  at  Vancouver  Sir  George 
Simpson,  who  desired  to  visit  the  Canadian  settle- 
ment, he  returned  home  with  him.  Sir  George 
assisted  at  High  Mass  and  Vespers  on  Sunday,  &nd 
seemed  to  have  been  pleased  with  what  he  had  seen 
there  and  at  Vancouver.  He  became  convinced  at 
last  of  the  necessity  of  granting  passage  for  new 
priests  and  other    assistants.     Starting    again    the 


126  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

Vicar  General  reached  Cowlitz  on  December  1st;  left 
it  on  thp-  Tth;  arrived  at  Vancouver  on  tlie  10th, 
and  Clackamas  village  on  the  18th;  went  to  pray  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross  with  the  Indians  and  the  chiefs; 
left  them  well  pleased.  As  the  river  was  much 
swollen  by  the  heavy  and  unusual  rains,  he  met  great 
dangers  at  Eock  Island,  above  the  falls.  He  being 
on  shore  to  lighten  the  canoe,  the  canoe  capsized, 
and  eight  persons  were  struggling  in  the  water;  all 
were  saved  as  by  a  miracle.  The  Vicar  General 
reached  home  on  December  23d;  but  left  for  Van- 
couver on  the  27th,  to  attend  the  funeral  services  of 
Mr.  Kitron,  who  having  been  brought  to  Vancouver 
in  1840,  and  made  his  abjuration  and  received  holy 
communion  and  other  sacraments,  and  died  happy. 
The  Vicar  General  returned  home  on  the  eve  of  New 
Year's  day. 

Incidents  in  1841. 

Rev.  Father  P.  J.  De  Smet,  S.  J.  returned  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  in  the  Spring  of  1841,  with  the 
Rev.  Fathers  Mengarini  and  Point,  and  founded  St. 
Mary's  mission  among  the  Flatheads.  The  Cowlitz 
settlement  had  the  happiness  to  possess  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  in  its  little  chapel  from  Jan.  6.  Harhely, 
the  Yakima  chief,  who  visited  St.  Paul  last  fall,  ar- 
rived at  Cowlitz  on  Jan.  25,  with  some  Indians  of 
O'Kanagan,  and  a  son  of  the  Spokane  chief,  called 
La  grosse  Tete,  the  Corypheus  of  Bro.  Eells,  10  in  all. 
They  had  come  by  way  of  Nesqualy,  and  hence 
through  the  long  portage,  had  been  stripped  of  their 
blankets  and  ordered  back  by   the   Chehalis,   which 


CA^THOLIC      CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  127 

they  refused  to  accede  to.  The  son  of  La  grosse 
Tete  had  left  his  home  in  spite  of  his  father  to  be- 
come a  Catholic.  They  came  to  get  instructed. 
They  went  home  via  Vancouver  and  the  Columbia. 
The  little  chief  des  Chaudieres  (Colville)  was  an 
apostle  among  his  people,  with  the  Catholic  Ladder 
in  his  hands,  since  the  departure  of  the  priest. 

Missionary  Labors  in  1842. 

The  two  missionaries  met  again  this  year,  at  Van- 
couver, after  a  separation  of  3  months  and  a  half. 
Rev,  M.  Demers  came  first  in  three  days  of  bad 
weather,  and  arrived  on  Feb.  23d.  He  began  a  mis- 
sion of  27  days,  with  the -usual  forenoon,  afternoon, 
and  evening  exercises;  after  which,  leaving  on  Mon- 
day of  Holy  Week,  and  experiencing  three  other 
days  of  bad  weather,  he  reached  home  after  an  ab- 
sence of  32  days. 

The  V.  G.  came  later  to  meet  his  dear  companion, 
and  arrived  on  Tuesday  of  Passion  Week,  March  15; 
and  starting  on  Thursday  of  the  same  week,  and  ex- 
periencing bad  weather  also,  he  reached  St.  Paul  on 
Saturday,  the  eve  of  Palm  Sunday. 

One  of  the  items  he  sent  to  Quebec,  Canada,  was : 
''from  March  1841  to  March  1842,  were  performed; 
baptisms,  965;  marriages,  12;  burials,  21;  communi- 
ons, 115.  Of  the  965  baptisms,  765  were  made  on 
Puget  Sound,  all  Indians,  save  15  Whites,  at  Fort 
►  Langley,  69  at  the  Clackamas,  Wallamette  fall  and 
Cascades  mission,  70  at  Vancouver,  24  at  the  Cow- 
litz, and  37  at  St.  Paul. 

Having  given  the  great  festival  of  Easter  and  three 


128  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

weeks  of  the  Passover  time  to  the  faithful  of  St. 
Paul,  the  V.  G.  gave  his  first  outside  missionary  la- 
bors to  his  dear  Indians  of  the  Wallamette  falls. 
Arriving  there  on  April  20th,  and  notwithstanding 
the  cold  reception  he  received,  he  began  his  mission- 
ary labors  which  he  continued  for  fifteen  days.  The 
poor  Indians  were  very  indolent;  the  ringing  of  the 
bell  drew  few  of  them  in  the  beginning;  they  had 
forgotten  all  they  had  learned  before.  Having  no 
time  to  go  and  visit  the  Clackamas  Indians,  on  the 
present  occasion,  they  were  invited  to  come  to  the 
Fall;  several  of  them  came.  By  jDersevering  in  his 
efforts  he  began  to  gain  their  confidence,  and  they 
became  more  attentive.  He  made  six  baptisms,  in- 
cluding two  adults  in  danger  of  death.  The  reason 
of  their  apathy  was  the  distraction  in  which  they 
were  involved  by  the  immigration  of  the  whites;  15 
families  of  them  had  crossed  the  Clackamas  river 
during  his  mission  at  that  i)lace,  in  Nov.  1841.  And, 
as  the  Wallamette  fall  was  an  attractive  place,  many 
of  them  began  to  settle  there.  Hence  the  danger 
for  the  poor  Indians.  The  fruits  of  the  mission 
were  not  so  consoling  as  formerly. 

On  May  4th,  the  V.  G.  went  fiom  the  Wallamette 
fall  to  Vancouver  to  receive  8  cases  which  had  ar- 
rived from  London;  and  from  thence  returned  to  St. 
Paul  for  the  festival  of  Pentecost,  and  Corpus  Chris- 
ti,  falling  on  May  26.  Dr.  McLaughlin  paying  ,a 
visit  to  St.  Paul  at  that  time,  assisted  at  high  mass 
and  procession,  with  much  edification;  having  visited 
the  whole  colony,  he  encouraged  the  settlers  to  con- 
tinue,  and  returned  home  much  satisfied. 


CATHOLIC   CHUKCH   IN  OREGON.         129 

Arrival  or  Father  De  Smet,  S.  J. 

Kev.  M.  Demers  returned  to  Vancouver  in  the 
middle  of  May,  to  attend  the  v^ants  of  that  mission 
and  those  of  the  Brigades  of  the  north  and  south. 
He  had  been  there  but  a  few  weeks,  when  Father 
De  Smet  arrived  at  Vancouver  from  Colville,  which 
he  reached  early  in  tlie  spring.  In  crossing  a  rapid 
below  Colville  his  boat  was  capsized,  but  he  reached 
the  shore  in  safety,  suffering  only  from  the  loss  of 
his  baggage.  Rev.  M.  Demers  brought  him  to  St 
Paul;  he  spent  8  days  with  the  V.  G.,  sung  high  mass 
on  Sunday,  addressed  words  of  exhortation  to  the 
congregation,  and  expressed  himself  much  pleased 
with  the  solemnity  of  the  mass,  and  vesper  service; 
especially  in  the  singing;  of  the  Catholic  Ladder  he 
said:  ''That  plan  will  be  adopted  by  the  missions  oi 
the  whole  world."  Here  he  returned  to  Vancouver 
with  Rev.  M.  Demers;  the  V.  G.  soon  followed  them 
to  deliberate  on  the  interests  of  the  great  mission  of 
the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  missions  to  be  attended  this  year,  were  those 
of  Chinook  Point,  Vancouver,  Cascades,  Clacka- 
mas, Wallamette  Fall,  and  the  Sound,  whose  tribes 
were  so  famished  for  heavenly  things :  Witness  their* 
running  after  the  BlackgoiOH,  in  1840  and  1841,  and 
their  repeated  calls  for  a  priest  ever  since.  The 
name  of  another  mission  was  presented  to  the  coun-- 
cil,  that  of  the  New  Caledonia,  now  British  Columbin^^ 
which  was  threatened  to  be  visited  by  the  Presbyte- 
rians of  Walla  Walla. 

All  things  being  considered,  the  resolve  was  that 
the  New  Caledonia  mission  should   be   attended   be- 


130  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

fore  all,  and  that  Father  De  Smet  should  start  for 
St.  Louis  and  Belgium  to  bring  temporal  and  perso- 
nal efficient  means.  Kev.  M.  Demers  accepting 
heartily  the  long  and  hard  mission  of  New  Caledonia, 
prepared  himself  for  the  journey  and  winter  there. 
The  two  missionaries  started  with  the  Brigades  of 
the  Porteurs  on  June  29th,  and  separated  from  each 
other  at  Walla  Walla.  The  V.  G.  left  alone  to  ad- 
minister to  the  wants  of  the  extensive  mission,  re- 
. turned  soon  to  St.  Panl,  to  teach  catechism  for  the 
first  communion,  which  he  put  off  after  the  harvest 
for  new  instruction. 

The  Cowlitz  mission  which  had  lost  its  beloved 
missionary,  needed  to  be  consoled.  The  V.  G.  left  St. 
Paul  on  Aug.  12th,  passed  a  few  days  at  Vancouver 
and  reached  Cowlitz  on  the  18th.  He  remained  there 
twenty  days,  teaching  the  white  women  and  children 
for  the  first  communion.  The  Indians  had  also  a 
share  of  his  time.  lie  baptized  ten  of  their  children. 
In  the  midst  of  his  occupation  he  heard  that  a  wo" 
man  was  sick  at  Nesqualy,  and  had  but  a  few  days  to 
live.  Leaving  at  4  p.  m.  on  Friday  with  a  guide,  and 
travelling  a  distance  of  25  ieagues,  he  reached  the 
house  of  the  poor  sick  woman  on  the  following  day 
at  6  p.  m. :  gave  her  the  consolation  of  religion,  bap- 
tized her  child,  passed  the  night  there,  and  went  to 
the  Fort  to  hear  the  Confessions  of  the  men,  and 
starting  on  Sunday  at  4  p.  m.  he  reached  Cowlitz  on 
Monday  at  6  p.  m.  The  church  raised  on  JunQ  17th, 
1840,  was  not  yet  finished  for  want  of  lumber. 

On  leaving  Cowlitz,  Sept.  6th,  and  reaching  St. 
Paul  on  the  10th,  after  an   absence   of   30   days,   he 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         131 

was  accompanied  by  tlie  great  chief  Snehomish  Se- 
halapahen,  who  fought  the  Klalams  in  1840,  and 
came  out  victorious,  said  he,  by  virtue  of  his  chap- 
let  and  Catholic  Ladder,  He  had  come  to  Cowlitz 
twice  last  spring,  and  had  accompanied  Father  De- 
mers  to  Vancouver  in  May,  expecting  he  would  bring 
him  with  him  to  the  Bay,  and  when  he  saw  him  go 
ing  elsewhere,  and  wa^  obliged  to  return  home  alone, 
he  went  away  with  a  stricken  heart.  It  was  the  third 
time  he  was  coming  to  be  instructed  and  baptized. 
He  was  much  pleased  to  see  the  churches  and  servi- 
ces on  Sunday  at  Vancouver  and  St.  Paul.  On  arri- 
ving there,  the  V.  G.  recommended  the  catechism 
for  the  first  communion.    /|  ^  £j  ^^,^ 

The  17th  of  September^as  a  day  of  great  rejoicing 
for  the  V.  G.  in  receiving  and  embracing  his  dear 
new  confreres.  Rev.  A.  Langlois  and  J.  B.  Z.  Bol- 
duc,  arriving  from  Canada.  They  had  been  over  a 
year  on  their  journey,  for  having  left  Boston  on  Aug. 
10th,  doubled  Cape  Horn  on  Dec.  5th,  and  touched 
at  Valparaiso,  Gambler  Islands,  Tahiti,  Honolulu, 
they  crossed  the  Columbia  river  bar  on  Sept.  12th. 
When  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  was  refused  a  passage  in 
the  canoes  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  for  other 
priests,  for  Oregon,  he  sent  them  by  sea.  Sir  George 
Simpson  avowed  to  the  V.  G.  in  1841,  that  Mr. 
Beaver,  the  ex-chaplain,  was  the  cause  of  the  refusal. 
The  following  day  being  Sunday,  a  high  mass  was 
celebrated  with  Deacon  and  sub-Deacon,  for  the  first 
time  in  Oregon,  and  followed  witH  a  Te>  Dewn,  On 
Sunday  Sept.  30th,  took  place  ,  with  great  solemnity, 
the  first  communion  of  those  found  prepared. 


132  '  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

The  faithful  at  Vancouver  were  complaining  of  not 
being  well  attended;  time  was  wanting  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. Now  that  their  number  was  increased, 
they  were  to  have  a  better  share.  Therefore  the  V. 
G-.  leaving  St.  Paul  in  charge  of  Rev.  Bolduc,  started 
with  Rev.  Langlois  and  reached  the  mission  on  Oct. 
7th.  The  instruction  of  the  ladies  of  the  Fort  was 
given  to  Rev.  Langlois;  the  V.  G.  kept  for  himself 
that  of  the  women  and  children  of  the  village.  After 
three  weeks  of  daily  teaching,  seven  ladies  of  the 
fort  and  two  women  of  the  village  were  found 
able  to  make  their  first  communion,  which  took  place 
on  Sunday  Oct.  30th,  for  the  first  time  at  Vancouver, 
with  great  solemnity  before  a  large  congregation. 
This  being  done,  Rev.  Langlois  was  sent  to  St.  Paul, 
and  Rev.  Bolduc  to  Cowlitz,  to  attend  those  missions; 
the  V.  G.  remaining  at  Fort  Vancouver.  Sehalapahen 
who  attended  the  mission  at  Vancouver  followed  Fa- 
ther Bolduc,  who  completed  his  instruction  and  bap- 
tized him. 

The  Cascades  and  Clackamas  tribes  had  not  been 
visited  for  over  one  year.  They  had  been  exjoosed 
all  the  while  to  the  seduction  of  the  preachers  telling 
them:  "The  priests  have  forsaken  you.''  They  did 
not  need  twelve  months  to  forget  what  they  had 
learned  in  a  few  weeks.  Nevertheless,  their  visiting 
the  Blackgown  from  time  to  time  was  a  proof  of  their 
loving  him  still.  As  to  the  Clackamas,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  give  them  a  visit.  The  Cascade  Indians  had 
a  better  chance,  as  their  moving  yearly,  in  October, 
on  the  left  shore  of  the  Columbia,  nearly  opposite 
Vancouver,' brought  them  near  to  thex^riest.  There- 
fore the  V.  G.,  dividing  his  time  between  the  women 


CATHOLIC   CHUKCH   IN   OREGON.         133 

of  the  village  and  those  Indians,  gave  the  former  the 
forenoon,  and  the  latter  the  afternoon  for  several 
weeks.  This  met  with  many  difficulties,  such  as  the 
crossing  of  the  river,  the  division  of  the  tribe  into  two 
camps,  afar  from  each  other,  and  the  ice  of  the  up- 
per Columbia  covering  the  river.  Nevertheless  he 
had  the  consolation  to  make  15  baptisms.  Another 
great  consolation  he  met  on  Nov.  18th,  was  that  of 
receiving  the  profession  of  faith  of  Governor  Mc 
Laughlin  to  the  Catholic  faith,  as  explained  else- 
where. He  made  his  first  communion  at  midnight 
high  mass,  at  the  head  of  38  communicants.  The 
office  had  never  been  so  solemn,  as  to  chant,  music, 
and  decoration,  as  on  that  night.  The  number  of 
first  communions  made  in  the  Fall,  was;  13  at  Van- 
couver, 7  at  St.  Paul,  and  4  at  Cowlitz.  Thus  ended 
1842. 


MissioN.ARY   Labors  in   1843. 

After  a  residence  of  three  months  and  a  half,  the 
Vicar  General  left  Vancouver  for  St.  Paul,  on  Jan. 
18th,  1843.  When  on  his  way  he  stopped  to  get  a 
paddle,  he  also  baptized  a  dying  child.  Kev. 
Langlois,  availing  himself  of  the  presence  of  the 
Vicar  General,  started  on  Jan.  30th,  to  see  his  trav- 
eling companion.  He  was  three  weeks  on  his  jour- 
ney. On  returning  he  met  a  heavy  rain,  and  the 
high  flood  of  Feb.  13th,  which  exposed  him  to  great 
suffering  and  dangers. 

Chief  Factor  Douglas,  being  on  his  way   to   found 

Victoria,  on  the  south   end    of    Vancouver    Island, 

started  with  an  expedition  of  22  men, and  invited  Rev. 


134  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

Balduc  to  accompany  him.  Having  the  consent  of 
the  Vicar  General  he  left  Cowlitz  on  March  7th,  with 
the  expedition  for  Nesqualy,  where  the  steamer 
Beaver  was  waiting.  Leaving  on  the  13th,  she  reach- 
ed her  destination  on  the  14th,  where  Rev.  Bolduc 
met  a  large  number  of  Indians.  On  Sunday  the  19th, 
he  celebrated  mass  in  a  repository,  before  the  men 
and  over  1200  Indians,  and  baptized  102  children. 
And  giving  up  his  design  of  going  farther  north,  he 
bought  a  large  canoe,  crossed  the  Bay  in  two  days, 
reached  Whitby  on  the  25th,  and  fixed  his  tent  near 
the  cross  erected  in  1840.  The  Skatchates  and  other 
tribes  received  him  in  open  arms.  They  built  him  a 
house  28x25.  He  taught  them  during  8  days, 
baptized  173  children,  and  leaving  on  April  3d,  he 
got  home  on  the  6th,  after  an  absence  of  31  days. 
Ill  sending  his  report  he  begged  to  be  allowed  to  go 
and  found  that  mission. 

The  Vicar  General  left  St.  Paul  for  Vancouver  on 
March  13th,  and  bought  a  lot  for  $225,  at  Wallamette 
Fall  to  build  a  chapel  for  the  Indians.  One  of  the 
items  he  sent  to  Canada,  w^as:  from  March,  1842  to 
March,  1843,  were  made  688  baptisms,  28  marriages, 
26  burials.  Of  688  baptisms,  447  were  made  in  New 
Caledonia,  98  at  St.  Paul,  86  at  Vancouver,  and  57 
at  Cowlitz.  By  a  recapitalation  from  1838,  were 
made,  2,666  baptisms,  148  marriages,  86  burials. 
The  Vicar  General  left  Vancouver  for  St.  Paul  during 
Passion  Week  and  returned  on  April  18th,  the  eve  of 
Palm  Sunday. 

Rev.  M.  Demers  was  not  expected  to  have  any 
chance  lo  come  back  before  the  return  of  the  Briefade 


SKETCHES       OF 

of  the  North.  It  was  therefore  with  the  greatest 
surprise  that  on  entering  his  room,  on  Holy  Thursday 
evening,  April  13th,  the  Vicar  General  met  him 
there.  Sweet  and  moving  was  the  embrace  after  a 
separation  of  nearly  nine  months  and  a  half. 
Leaving  Vancouver  June  29th,  1842,  he  reached  Fort 
Thompson,  Aug.  10th,  Fort  Alexander,  on  Fraser 
Eiver,  Aug.  23d,  Fort  Stuart;  on  Stuart  Lake,  300 
leagues  from  Vancouver,  the  residence  of  Chief  Fac- 
tor Ogden,  the  commander  of  the  Brigade,  on  Sept. 
16th.  lie  celebrated  a  high  mass  there  on  the  18th. 
Returning  home,  he  reached  Fort  Alexander,  Sept. 
24th,  had  a  chapel  built  by  the  Indians;  celebrated 
in  it  Dec.  4th;  took  his  lodging  in  it  on  Jan.  3d, 
1843.  He  learned  two  languages,  translated  the 
canticles  and  prayers  in  their  idioms,  and  taught 
them  to  the  Indians;  and  left  them  able  to  pray, 
sing  and  explain  the  Catholic  Ladder,  Hard  was 
their  separation.  Availing  himself  of  the  invitation 
oifered  him  by  Chief  Factor  Ogden,  he  started  with 
him  on  horseback,  in  three  or  four  feet  of  snow,  on 
Feb.  21st,  from  Fort  Alexander;  reached  Fort 
Thompson,  March  1st,  passed  13  days  at  Okanagant 
starving,  and  waiting  for  a  boat;  came  hence  on 
horseback  along  the  Columbia  to  Snake  Eiver;  hence 
by  boat  to  Walla  Walla  and  Vancouver,  44  days  from 
Fort  Thompson.  In  going  and  coming  he  had  en- 
countered many  trials,  dangers  and  fatigues,  some- 
times extreme.  The  Vicar  General  preached  on 
Good  Friday,  and  Father  Demers  on  Easter  Sunday, 
April  16th. 

Rev.  Bolduc,  arriving  from  Cowlitz  on  April    19th, 


136  CATHOLIC       CHURCH       IN       OREGON.' 

left  for  St.  Paul  with  Kev.  M.  Demers,  who  preached 
there  on  Sunday,  23d ,  and  returning  to  Vancouver, 
they  both  started  for  Cowlitz,  on  April  27th,  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  the  mission  of  Whitby.  On 
May  10th,  they  were  en  route  for  Nesqualy  with  2 
men  and  11  horses,  7  of  them  with  packages;  they 
reached  Whitby  on  May  25th,  1843. 

Rev,  Langlois  being  put  in  charge  of  Cowlitz, 
Vancouver,  Cascades,  Wallamette  Fall,  and  Clacka- 
mas Indians,  left  St.  Paul  May  17th,  for  his  post. 
He  succeeded  to  finish  the  church  erected  in  1840; 
and  began  to  celebrate  mass  in  it  on  Pentecost  day, 
June,  4th.  He  visited  several  times,  the  Indians  of 
the  mountains,  living  on  the  route  to  Nesqualy. 
From  Cowlitz  he  came  to  Vancouver  in  the  beginning 
of  June  to  attend  the  Brigades  of  the  North  and* 
South.  He  went  to  the  Cascades  in  the  beginning 
of  July,  and  gave  a  mission  of  8  days  to  the  Indians 
of  that  place.  Passing  hence  to  the  Wallamette 
Fall  and  Clackamas  tribes,  he  spent  several  weeks 
among  them.  The  plat  surveyed  in  Dec.  1842,  at 
the  Fall,  had  been  called  Oregon  City;  it  was  grow- 
ing rapidly,  to  no  benefit  to  the  Clackamas  and  Wal- 
lamette Fall  Indians.  Hence  the  little  success  of 
Rev.  A  Langlois,  who  consoled  himself  by  the  hojDe 
of  the  conversion  of  Walter  Pomeroy,  a  pioneer  car- 
penter, who  built  the  Cathedral  at  Oregon  City  in 
1845. 

On  reaching  the  Clackamas  Indian  village.  Rev.  A. 
Langlois  found  the   cross  erected  in   1841    had   dis-  * 
appeared.    It  had  been  cut  down  by   order   of  the 
Methodist  preacher  Waller,  to  the  great   sorrow   of 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN  OREGON.  137 

the  Indians.  Yes,  the  cross  which  shows  the  excess 
of  the  love  of  the  Son  of  God  for  man  ;  the  cross  by 
which  Jesus  Christ,  our  Blessed  Kedeemer,  redeemed 
the  world  ;  the  cross  made  known  from  that  of  the 
two  thieves  by  a  miracle  ;  the  cross  .shown  to  Con- 
stantine,  in  heaven,  with  the  words  :  ^^hoc  signo 
vinces,"  the  cross  which  convei^ted  the  whole  world 
from  paganism,  and  which  is  a  terror  to  the  devils, 
the  cross,  whose  sign  shall  appear  at  the  last  day, 
that  cross  is  a  scandal  to  the  Methodist  minister, 
Waller ;  he'  has  it  in  horror,  as  the  devils,  he  cannot 
bear  the  sight  of  it ;  he  ordered  it  to  be  cut  down, 
and  pretended  to  teach  the  poor  Indians  Christ  cruel* 
fed,  without  showing  them  a  cross  ! ! !  Great  God  1 
What  subversion  of  ideas  and  judgment  in  the  sect! 
'\^yiat  destruction  of  saving  doctrine  !  What  turning 
upside  down  of  common  good  sense  and  true  religion 
rather  unfortunably  too  well  typified  by  the  turning- 
upside  down  of  a  table  adorning  the  short  belfry, 
(short  faith)  of  the  Methodist  churches  ! 

The  Vicar  General  in  going  to  St.  Paul,  to  take 
the  place  of  Rev.  A.  Langlois,  taught  catechism 
from  May  1st  to  July  21st  on  which  day  18  persons 
made  their  first  Communion.  Extremely  great  was 
the  surprise  of  the  Vicar  General  when  at  the  end  of 
June,  he  saw  Eev.  M.  Demers  arriving  at  St.  Paul 
from  Whitby  which  he  had  left  with  Rev.  Bolduc 
after  one  month  of  residence.  That  step  had 
not  been  taken  rashly,  but  on  the  most  weighty 
reasons,  which  the  Vicar  General  approved,  and 
which  it  ^ould  be  too  long  to  explain  here.  Never- 
theless Rev.  Bolduc  was  ordered  to  go  and  pass  the 


"ISR  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

summer  with  chief  Tslalakum  in  order  to  learn  the 
idiom.  But  the  rumors  of  war,  induced  him  to  re- 
turn from  Nesqualj.  The  plan  of  the  Whitbay 
mission  being  postponed  till  the  arrival  of  Father 
JJe  Smet,  in  its  stead  was  announced  that  of  opening 
a  school  at  St.  Paul  in  the  fall.  A  second  catechism 
l)egun  by  the  Vicar  General  at  St.  Paul,  after  the 
harvest,  was  continued  bj  Rev.  Langlois,  who  on 
October  19,  received  19  persons  to  their  communions. 
The  news  came  in  October  that  two  other  Jesuit 
"Fathers,  De  Vos  and  Hockens,  sent  from  St.  Louis 
hj  Father  De  Smet,  had  arrived  for  the  Flathead 
iind  Coeur  d'Alene  missions  ;  they  had  come  with  a 
caravan  of  700  souls.  Dr.  McLaughlin,  on  a  second 
visit  to  St.  Paul,  in  October,  approached  the  holy 
table  on  a  Sunday  at  the  head  of  a  number  of  the 
faithful.  On  his  return  to  Oregon  City,  the  Vicar 
General  accompanied  him  and  choose  a  block  for  the 
Church.  Few  weeks  after,  Walter  Pomeroy,  whose 
wife  was  L'ish,  came  to  St.  Paul,  made  his  profession 
of  faith,  had  his  marriage  blessed,  children  baptized 
tind  returned  happy  to  the  Twalatin  Plains. 

The  17th  of  October  was  a  day  of  great  rejoicing 
at  St.  Paul,  on  account  of  the  solemn  blessing  of  St. 
Joseph's  college  after  Mass  chanted  by  the  Vicar  Gen- 
eral before  a  large  congregation.  On  that  day,  there 
entered  as  boarders,  30  boys,  sons  of  the  farmers 
save  one  Indian  boy,  the  son  of  a  chief.  Rev.  A. 
Langlois  was  the  director  ;  Mr.  King  principal  and 
teacher  of  English,  and  Mr.  Bilodeau,  assistant,  and 
teacher  of  French.  Several  acres  east  of  the  College 
.'^as  seen,  in  way  of  erection,  a  building  of  60x30  for 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         138"^ 

the  Sisters,  expected  to  arrive  with  Father  De  Smet.. 
Faithful  to  his  promise  of  sending  assistants,  made  in . 
1842,  Sir  George  Simpson  granted  a  passage   in  the 
canoe  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  to  five  men  and. 
two  women,  who  arrived  with  the  Brigade  on  Nov.. 
28th.    Rev.  M.  Demers,  after  attending  Cowlitz  witt: 
Rev.  Bolduc,  left  it  to  come  and  remain  at  Vancouver, 
which  he  left  in  the  beginning  of  December  to  return 
to  Cowlitz  and  the  Vicar  General  leaving  Rev.   Lan- 
glois  in  charge  of  St.  Paul,  reached  Vancouver  Dec 
21st  to  give  the  faithful  of  that  place,  the  festival  of 
midnight  mass,    Christmas     and     Circumcision.     It 
was  during  this  year  that    Hon.  Peter  H.   Burnett^, 
(afterwards  Governor  of  California)   while   attending^ 
mass  on  Christmas  Eve,  merely  as   a   spectator,    wa& 
so  moved  by  the  solemnity  of  the  service  that  he   be- 
came a  zealous    convert    to    the    Catholic    Churcli, 
Thus  ended  1843o 

Erection  of  the    Oregon   Mission    into    a   Vicariate 
Apostolic,  December  1st  1843. 

Whilst  the  Missionaries  of  Oregon  w^ere  doing 
their  best  to  promote  the  spiritual  interest  of  the 
mission  confided  to  their  care,  the  Bishops  of  Quebec 
and  Baltimore  looking  further  and  to  a  greater 
solid  good,  and  acting  in  concert,  earnestly  reconi— 
mended*the  Holy  See  to  erect  their  mission  into  a  Vic- 
ariate Apostolic.  The  Holy  See  acquiescing  to  their 
desires  erected  said  mission  a  Vicariate  Apostolic  by ' 
a  brief  of  Dec.  1  1843  ;  and  appointed  the  Vicar  Gen-- 
eral  F.  N.  Blanchet  its  Vicar  Apostolic  with  the  title 
of  Philadeljyhia.      The  Vicar  General  was  far  from  ex-- 


140  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

pecimg  such  a  result  *^o  soon,  the  notice  of  which 
reached  him  but  on  Nov.  4.,  1844,  to  his  great  sur- 
prise and  sorrow. 

Missionary  Labors  in  184t4. 

In  January,  1844,  at  Vancouver,  the  Vicar  General 
baptizecl  ten  adults  and  blessed  eight  marriages 
after  one  month  of  instruction.  As  the  town  called 
Oregon  City  contained  in  1842  60  houses  and  two 
Catholic  families,  and  had  a  good  prosiDCct  of  in- 
creasing, the  Vicar  General  thought  it  was  time  to 
provide  it  with  a  missionary.  And  as  the  right  ma^i 
for  the  place  was  Rev.  M.  Demers,  who  was  at  Cow- 
litz, the  Vicar  General  left  Vancouver  on  Feb.  lOth, 
for  that  mission,  which  he  had  not  visited  for  a  year 
and  a  half.  On  his  way  he  visited  several  Indian 
lodges,  baptized  two  children,  one  of  whom  was  very 
sick,  distributed  biscuits  to  those  who  had  been 
baptized  before,  and  thereby  made  them  and  their 
parents  happy.  The  Vicar  General  and  Rev.  M. 
Demers  left  Cowlitz  on  the  26th,  and  anived  at 
Oregon  City  on  the  1st  of  March,  after  a  painful 
journey  of  five  da^^s.  Rev.  M.  Demers  on  his  arrival 
took  possession  of  a  house, rented  from  Dr.  Newell  at 
$10  per  month,  and  the  Vicar  General  returned  to 
Vancouver  on  the  following  day.  Rev.  M.  Demers 
had  arrived  at  Oregon  City,  under  strange  circum- 
stances; Bro.  "Waller  having  lost  all  credit  among 
his  countrymen  had  left  for  parts  unknown.  March 
3rd,  being  Sunday,  he  kej)t  service  before  and  after 
noon,  and  celebrated  the  first  mass  ever  said  in  the 
city;  the  chapel  was  found  too  small  for  the  occasion. 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         14 1 

There  was  a  fight  at  Oregon  City,  on  Monday, 
March  4th,  between  some  Indians  of  the  Molalle 
river  and  some  Americans,  in  which  one  Indian  was 
killed  and  two  Americans  wounded.  They  were 
both  sent  to  Vancouver  for  treatment,  and  both 
died,  G.  W.  Le  Breton,  on  the  7th,  and  the  other  on 
the  16th.  Le  Breton  had  become  a  convert  to  the 
Catholic  faith  at  St.  Paul,  in  1842,  but  seeing  he 
could  not  get  the  girl  he  expected,  he  withdrew 
gradually  from  the  church  and  apostatized.  During 
his  short  sickness,  the  Vicar  General  visited  him 
often,  and  used  all  his  zeal  to  bring  him  back  to  re- 
pentance, but  all  in  vain;  he  died  a  Protestant,  and 
was  buried  by  Chief  Factor  Douglas.  The  fight  was 
an  unfortunate  and  disgraceful  affair,  brought  on  by 
the  indiscretion  of  two  white  men. 

The  Vicar  General  left  Vancouver  for  Oregon  City 
and  St.  Paul,  March  28th.  Having  settled  some 
business  for  St.  Joseph's  College,  and  the  Mission 
claim,  which  was  surveyed  by  Jesse  Applegate,  and 
returning  reached  Vancouver  on  April  3rd.  April  5th 
being  Good  Friday,  Chief  Factor  Douglas  assisted  at 
the  office  and  came  down  to  the  adoration  of  the 
cross  with  Governor  McLaughlin.  On  returning  to 
Cowlitz  the  Vicar  General  baptized  7  Indian  children 
on  the  Columbia  and  Cowlitz  rivers;  and  gathering 
those  formerly  baptized,  he  gave  them  biscuits.  He 
found  Father  Bolduc  in  good  health.  Some  business 
having  been  attended  to,  he  returned  to  Vancouver 
on  the  24th.  Leaving  on  the  27th  for  St.  Paul  he 
sang  high  mass  at  Oregon  City  on  Sunday  the  28th, 
reaching  St.   Paul   on   the  following  Tuesday   with 


^'42  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

Fatlier  Demers,  who  after  visiting  together,  saw  the 
Mnission  saw  and  grist  mills  and  the  Sisters'  house  in 
course  of  erection,  returned  home,  while  the  Vicar 
^General  remained  till  June  20th,  on  business.  On 
"May  13th  he  blessed  and  erected  a  high  cross  on  the 

■spot  chosen  for  the  new  church  to  be  built  in  1846, 
On  Sunday,  June  9th,  the  procession  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  took  iDlace  at  St.   Paul,   which  was  made 

*  very  solemn  by  the  college  scholars  singing  and 
performing  figures  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
daring  the  procession  Kev.  M.  Demers  went  on  June 
10th  to  administer  to  the  Brigades  at  Vancouver, 
which  the  Vicar  General  reached  on  June  22nd  after 
an  absence  of  fifty-eight  days. 

On  July  12th,  the  Vicar  General  left  Vancouver 
for  Cowlitz,  and  arrived  there  on  Sunday,  14th. 
He  ^aid  a  low  mass.  On  his  return  he  met  in  the 
Oolumbia  river,  the  English  frigate,  LaModeste,  Capt. 
Bailey.  The  Captain  being  desirous  of  visiting  the 
Waiiamette  Valley,  left  Vancouver  with  the  Vicar 
General,  Chief  Factor  Douglas,  and  several  officers 
of  his  staff  for  St.  Paul.  They  all  attended  the  high 
mass  on  Sunday,  July  2lst,  and  seemed  to  be  very 
much  pleased  to  see  such  a  service.  They  lodged  at 
the  College,  where  there  had  been  on  July,  18th  an 
examination  of  the  pupils,  before  a  large  assemblage, 
with  great  credit  to  the  teachers  and  scholars, 
licaving  on  Monday  on  a  tour  to  the  upper  valley, 
Rijv.  M.  Demers  accompanied  them.  Bev.  A.  Lan- 
glois  left  St.  Paul  to  i)ay  a  visit  to  the  Jesuit  Father 
of  the  Eocky  Mountains  on  July  28th;  he  returned 
on  Sept.  6th,  much  worn  out  by  a  journey  of  42  days 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  143 

on  horseback.  He  had  his  feet  much  swollen  for  a 
time.  He  returned  with  Father  Mengarini  on  hear- 
ing of  the  arrival  of  Father  De  Smet  by  sea.  Father 
Joset,  Zerbinatti,  and  Soderini,  three  new  Jesuit 
Fathers,  were  sent  from  St.  Louis  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains  this  year. 


Arrival  of  Father  De  Smet  by  Sea. 

The  long  expected  return  of  Rev.  Father  De  Smet 
came  at  last.  Leaving  Anvers,  Belgium,  on  Jan.  9th, 
1844,  in  a  sailing  vessel  called  the  L' infatigaUe ,  he 
met  with  great  dangers  at  Cape  Horn,  touched  at 
Valparaiso  and  Callao,  spent  four  days  outside  the 
bar  waiting  for  a  pilot,  passed  the  bar  on  July  31st, 
running  straight  east  through  the  south  channel, 
something  never  attempted  before^  came  to  a  pass  of 
2J  fathoms  of  Avater,  and  arrived  at  Astoria  in  the 
evening.  All  who  saw  the  course  of  the  ship  thought 
that  she  would  be  wrecked,  the  captain  and  passen- 
gers fearing  the  same.  Father  De  Smet  arrived  at 
Vancouver  in  a  canoe  on  Sunday  the  4th, , at  6  a.  m., 
the  ship  arriving  on  the  6th.  Father  De  Smet  was  «-^ 
accompanied  by  four  new  Fathers;  Rev.  Fathers 
Ravalli,  Accolti,  Nobili,  Vercruisse,  some  lay  broth- 
ers and  six   Sisters   of  Notre   Dame  de  Namur. 

The  news  of  his  arrival  reaching  the  Vicar  General     ,  / 
at  St.  Paul  on  the  10th,  he  was  at  Vancouver  on  the   i/'H£^ 
following  day;  and  the  religious  caravan  reached   St. 
Paul  on  the  17th,.^nd  took  up  their  quarters  in   the  //V/ 
college.     On  Sunday  the  18th,  the  Vicar  General  sang     ^     / 
a  high  mass  before  an  affluence^of  people,  anxious  to 


144  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

see  the  Sisters  and  new  Fathers.  On  the  following 
Thursday  was  sung  a  mass  of  thanksgiving.  Father 
De  Smet  took  a  land  claim  on  lac  Ignace^  and  had  in 
a  few  months  a  house  built  on  the  high  land  near  the 
lake,  for  the  residence  of  his  fathers.  Father  De 
Smet  started  on  Oct.  6  for  the  Kocky  Mountains; 
from  whence  Father  De  Vos  arrived  at  St.  Paul  on 
the  13th,  on  horseback,  bringing  with  him  two  lay 
brothers.  The  Sisters  entered  into  their  convent  on 
Oct.  19th,  and  had  a  mass  celebrated  in  the  interior 
chapel  the  following  day;  Fathers  De  Vos  and  Ac- 
colti  entered  their  new  house  called  St.  Ignace. 

On  November  4:th  two  Briefs  arrived,  one  Brief 
making  the  mission  of  Oregon  into  a  Vicariate 
Apostolic,  and  the  other  Brief  appointing  the 
Vicar  General,  F.  N.  Blanchet,  to  the  position, 
w^ith  the  title  of  Philadelphia,  which,  on  representa- 
tion to  Rome  from  Quebec,  was  changed  into  that  of 
Drasa,  on  May  4th,  1845.  The  addresses  of  his  let- 
ters from  Canada  betraying  his  case,  felicitations 
were  tendered  to  the  Vicar  General,  but  he  refused 
them  for  several  days.  His  consultation  being  an- 
swered, it  was  useless  to  refuse,  so  he  gave  his  con- 
sent on  the  8th,  and  made  a  resolution  to  go  to  Can- 
ada to  receive  his  episcopal  consecration  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Quebec,  and  hence  to  go  and  visit 
Rome. 

Rev.  M.  Demers  was  appointed  vicar  general  and 
administrator  of  the  vicariate  apostolic  during  the 
absence  of  the  Bishop  elect,  by  letters  of  Nov.  25th. 
A  mandate  was  issued,  and  on  Dec.  5th,  1844  the 
Bishop  elect  crossed  the  bar  on  board   of  the  Bark 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         145 

Columbia,  Captain  Duncan,  en  route  for  Canada,  via 
England.  The  Belgian  bark,  IJinfaligahle^  was 
detained  by  contrary  winds  until  the  following 
day. 


The  Fight  at  Oregon  City,  March  4th.,  1844.  Ex- 
tract FROM  THE  Missionary  Report  of  the  Vicar 
General  in  1844,  on  the  Occasion. 

'' We  arrived  from  Cowlitz  to  the  Wallamette  fall 
on  March  2nd,  after  a  painful  journey  of  5  days.  After 
having  installed  the  pastor  of  Oregon  City  into  his 
house,  I  returned  to  Vancouver.  I  soon  learned 
what  a  crowd  assisted  at  the  Mass  and  Vespers  of  the 
first  Sunday,  March  3rd.  The  evil-one  did  not  allow 
the  Missionary  to  enjoy  long  this  fine  outset,  for  the 
following  day  the  human  blood  began  to  stream  in  a 
fight  in  which  an  Indian  instantly  succumbed  and 
two  Americans  were  wounded.  Alas  !  what  a  mis- 
fortune !  what  shall  be  the  consequences?  And 
for  what  that  broil  ?  For  false  reports.  One  Klika- 
tat  Indian  had  been  killed,  he,  his  two  wives  and  a 
baptized  child,  in  the  upper  Clackamas  river.  Some 
one  falsely  accused  the  chief  of  the  Molalis  river  In- 
dians of  the  crime.  A  most  certain]report,  even  among 
the  Indians,  was  that  the  massacre  had  been  com- 
mitted by  two  slaves  whom  their  master  had  mal- 
treated too  much,  and  who  had  been  seen  returning  to 
their  land  with  the  booty  of  their  master.  Dr.  White 
who  gave  credit  to  the  first  report,  had  promised  a 
reward  of  $100  for  the  apprehension  of  said  chief, 
living  or  dead.     The  chief  of  the  Molalis  did  not  ig- 


146  SKETCHES       OF       THK 

nore  what  had  appened.  Conscious  of  his  innocence, 
but  well  armed,  he  had  come  to  the  tow^n,  accompan- 
ied with  four  men.  He  crossed  over  to  the  Indian 
side.  During  that  time,  there  came  the  question  to 
apprehend  him.  Dr.  McLoughlin's  store  clerk  re- 
marked :  ''That  Indian  is  a  good  man,  you  should 
not  molest  him  ;  if  you  do,  you  will  repent !"  No 
matter,  the  Doctor's  secretary  (Le  Breton)  and  a 
Mulatto  persisted  ;  and  asked  him  to  surrender  on 
his  return.  He  refuses;  they  insist;  he  defends  him- 
self ;  the  Mulatto  is  ordered  to  shoot,  the  shot  starts, 
and  the  Indian  is  wounded.  He  rushes  on  his  ag- 
gressors, who  run  away.  He  was  nearly  overtaking 
the  secretary,  who,  turning,  seized  the  muzzle  of  the 
pistol  with  his  right  hand,  the  shot  starts,  and  enters 
and  passes  through  his  arm  ;  the  Indian  staggers 
and  falls,  and  the  Mulatto  finishes  him  with  the  butt 
end  of  his  gun.  The  four  other  Indians  begin  to 
shoot  with  guns  or  arrows  ;  Americans  come  at  the 
noise,  and  return  fire,  but  without  catching  them, 
aud  having  two  men  wounded.  The  first,  Le  Breton, 
died  in  three  days.  There  was  found  two  balls  in  his 
elbow  and  the  wad  further.  The  second  died  12 
days  after  from  the  shot  of  an  arrow  in  the  left  arm. 
The  shaft  had  been  immediately  drawn  away,  but 
the  iron  remained,  which  coald  not  be  extracted  but 
after  death.  Both  died  in  dreadful  sufferings.  It  is  ' 
probable  that  they  were  poisoned.  The  last  was  but 
a  spectator;  the  greater  part  of  the  Americans  did 
not  know  what  w^as  the  matter." 


CA.THOLIC      CHURCH      IN       OREGON.  147 

g.S<:tl ER  OF  RKY.  M.  D£IIEUS  TO  THE  YI€AR  GENERAL. 

Oregon  City,  March  6th,  1844. 
Very  Kev.  Sir  : — I  did  not  suffer  myself  to  be  intimidated 
by  the  affray  of  the  other  day.  I  heard  the  musket  shots 
closely  succeeding,  but  I  made  light  of  them,  till  I  saw  men 
running  backward  and  forward  in  the  streets,  loading  their 
pistols  and  carbines.  I  asked  what  it  was?  '^An  Indian 
fight,"  was  the  answer.  Le  Breton  has  received  two  ar- 
rows, one  in  the  arm  and  the  other  in  the  thigh,  I  think. 
There  was  such  a  confusion  that  25  Indians  as  brave  and 
determined  as  they  were,  could  have  killed  all  the  settlers. 
The  Indians  of  the  other  side  3ay  that  the  deceased  had 
come  to  have  a  talk  with  the  whites,  in  order  to  disculpate 
himself  from  the  charge  made  against  him.  The  Mulatto, 
Wmslo,  on  seeing  him,  said  ^*that  is  the  man  who  would  kill 
him,"  and  for  whose  capture  Dr.  White  had  promised  a  re- 
ward "of  $100,  which  Le  Breton  has  gained.  I  have  seen 
the  poor  Indian  ;  he  was  still  breathing.  But,  O  barbar- 
ity !  the  negro  who  said  it  was  he  who  pierced  his  hat 
with  a  bullet,  did  pierce  him  after  he  was  dead  ;  and,  in 
the  morning,  his  head  had  been  found  split  and  entirely 
separated  above  the  forehead,  and  the  brains  still  clung  to 
the  axe  which  had  been  the  instrument  for  siich  savage  cru- 
elty. HeoTvendum  est !  In  another  letter  of  March  7th, 
to  the  same,  Eev.  M.  Demers  adds:  *The  settlers  seem 
to  acknowledge  they  have  been  too  quick,  in  this  unfortu- 
nate affair  ;  but  the  unlucky  deed  is  over ;  it  is  a  true 
murder  ;-  based  upon  the  extremely  rash  and  unjusti- 
fiable action  of  poor  Le  Breton  who  will  pay  dear  for  his 
apostasy  and  crime." 


The  merit  and  gloiy  of  an  historian  is  to  be  a  true 
and  faithful  narrator  of  facts.  If  he  fails  in  this,  his 
veracity  will  be  doubted  in  the[most  important  points. 
This  being  so,  what  shall  be  thought  of  the  history 


148  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

ofOregonby  W.  H.  Gray,  when  all  will  learn  how 
shamefully  he  has  distorted  and  falsified  the  facts 
concerning  the  fight  of' March  4th.  For  it  is  false 
that  the  Indians  of  the  vicinity  of  Oregon  City  made 
an  attack  on  the  town.  It  was  by  no  means  an  at- 
tack ;  not  one  of  the  Clackamas,  nor  of  the  Wallam- 
ette  fall,  but  five  of  the  Molalis  only  took  part  in  the 
fight.  It  is  false  that  the  Indians  commenced  the 
fight.  It  is  false  that  the  chief  was  placed  under 
guard  and  was  killed  when  attempting  to  escape. 
It  is  false  that  the  Indians  made  an  attempt  to  des- 
troy the  people  and  town  at  Wallamette  fall.  It  -is 
false  that  there  was  any  need  to  stir  up  the  whole 
country,  to  organize  for  defense,  as  all  the  Indian 
tribes  were  never  so  peaceable  as  they  were  then, 
having  no  reason  to  molest  them,  as  their  fisheries, 
hunting-places  and  camas  prairies  had  not  yet  been 
taken  away  from  them.  It  is  false  that  the  Company 
had  any  thing  to  fear  from  the  Indians;  if  the  fort 
was  repaired,  bastions  built,  and  all  other  protective 
and  defensive  measures  were  completed,  it  was  to 
defend  itself  against  another  kind  of  savageness. 


Missionary  Labors  in  1845  and  1846. 


When  the  Bishop  elect  left  for  Canada,  December 
1844,  the  missionary  stations  were  attended  as  fol- 
lows; Cowlitz  by  Rev.  A  Langlois,  Fort  Vancouver 
by  Father  Nobili,  Oregon  City  by  Father  Accolti, 
St.  Paul  by  Vicar  General  Demers,  St.  Joseph's  Col- 
lege by  Rev.  Z.  Bolduc,  and   the   Sisters   by   Father 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.  l49 

De  Vos.  According  to  tiie  best  calculation,  the  In- 
dian population  at  that  time  numbered  110,000,  of 
which,  6,000  were  Christians;  about  half  of  them 
being  at  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  remainder  in 
the  lower  part  of  Oregon.  The  white  Catholic  pop- 
ulation was  about  1,000,  of  which  600  were  in  the 
Wallamette  Valley,  100  at  Vancouver,  100  at  Cow- 
litz, and  the  rest  in  the  various  trading  posts.  The 
Jesuit  Fathers  had  four  missions  at  the  Eoclvv  Moun- 
tains in  1843,  viz:  St.  Mary,  St.  Joseph,  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Michael:  The  Coeiir  D'Alene  was  one  of 
them. 

By  a  letter  from  administrator  Demers,  dated  Oct, 
8th,  1845,  and  other  notes,  the  Bishop  Elect  learned 
the  following:  Father  Nobili  had  left  in  June  with 
the  Brigade  of  the  North  for  New  Caledonia,  Father 
De  Smet  visited  lower  Oregon  at  the  end  of  June^ 
Father  De  Vos  had  the  care  of  Oregon  City  and  Fort 
Vancouver,  and  Father  Accolti  was  chaplain  of  the 
Sisters  at  St.  Paul.  The  priest  house  was  finislied 
at  Oregon  City,  and  the  church  much  advanced. 
The  church  built  by  Father  Verecruisse  at  La  Grande 
Prairie  was  soon  to  be  blessed  and  opened  for  di- 
vine service.  Father  Ravalli  had  left  for  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Sixty  thousand  bricks  had  been  burnt 
for  the  new  church  at  St.  PauFs.  St.  Josej^h's  Col- 
lege, containing  28  boarders,  being  too  small,  had 
been  enlarged  with  a  second  story,  by  its  principal 
Father  Bolduc.  The  good  religieuses  of  Notre  Dame 
de  Namur  were  overburdened  with  occupations  in  the 
care  and  teaching  42  little  girls,  and  a  chapel  meas- 
uring 80  X  30  feet  was  in  course  of  construction  for 
them. 


150  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

The  chapel  at  Oregon  City  was  blessed  and  opened 
for  divine  service  on  Septuagesima  Sunday,  Feb.  8th, 
1846,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  Protes- 
tants. From  that  date  the  church  is  full  on 
Sundays,  a  number  of  people  attending  service 
through  being  desirous  of  seeing  the  impressive  cere- 
monies of  our  church  and  hear  the  explanation  of  its 
dogmas.  The  corner-stone  of  St.  Paul's  brick  church 
was  blessed  by  Vicar  General  Demers,  on  May  24:th, 
1846,  and  the  church  was  dedicated  and  opened  for 
divine  service  on  Nov.  1st  of  the  same  year.  It  was  the 
first  brick  building  that  was  erected  in  the  country, 
measuring  100  feet  by  45,  with  wings  or  chapels  of 
20  feet,  its  belfry  shows  the  sign  of  our  redemption, 
and  stood  84  feet  from  the  ground,  At  Vancouver, 
in  1845,  Chief  factor  Douglas  having  desired  the 
erection  of  a  Catholic  church,  one  w^as  x^ut  up  and 
shingled.  Governor  Mc  Laughlin  was  preparing  to 
leave  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.,  and  retire  to  Oregon  City. 
*'I  was  forgetting  to  say  a  word  or  two  about  the 
political  state  of  the  country,"  says  the  Vicar  Gen- 
eral Demers;  ^'a  i)rovisoiy  government  had  been 
established,  Mr.  George  Abernethy  is  Governor,  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  joins  in  with  the  provisory 
government;  Vancouver,  Cowlitz  and  Nesqualy  form 
a  district  of  which  chief  factor  Douglas  is  the  judge 
in  chief."  This  vindicates  and  proves  to  be  false  the 
charges  formerly  made  that  said  company  was 
opposed  to  a  provisory  government.  If  the  Hudson 
Bay  Co.  opposed  the  establishment  of  a  provisory 
government  in  1841,  no  one  couLI  wonder  or  blame 
it,  as  Commodore  Wilkes  himself  was  opposed  to  it, 
on  the  gTound  that  it  was  premature 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN  OREGON.  151 

On  the  occasion  of  the  foregoing,  we  wish  to  cor- 
rect a  great  mistake  made  in  a  lecture  by  an  eminent 
judge,  saying  of  Very  Eev.  F,  N.  Blanche t  and  Rev. 
M.  Demers;  ''they  were  subjects  of  Great  Britain, 
and  their  influence  and  teaching  among  the  people 
was  naturally  in  favor  of  the  authority  and  interest 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.  They  discouraged  the  early 
attempts  at  the  formation  of  a  settlers  government  in 
the  country."  All  this  is  entirely  inaccurate;  they 
being  British  subjects  had  nothing  to  do  with  their 
teaching,  nor  would  naturally  lead  them  ^'to  teach 
their  people  in  favor  of  the  authority  and  interest  of 
a  fur  company."  A  higher  sense  of  feeling  than  this 
was  their  rule  ;  they  had  a  conscience  and  a  faith. 
Nor  did  they  ever  discourage  the  early  attempts  of 
a  settlers  government,  either  within  or  outside  of  their 
churches.  When,  during  the  meeting  in  June,  1841, 
Vicar  General  Blanchet  gave  his  opinion  that  it  was 
too  soon,  that,  as  Commodore  Wilkes  was  expected 
here,  the  committee  should  wait  for  his  opinion. 
That  step  was  by  no  means  an  act  of  opposition,  but 
on  the  contrary  an  act  of  prudence,  which  the  com- 
modore approved  of  at  Sfc.  Paul,  on  June  7th,  on 
the  ground  that  the  country  was  too  young.  And 
also,  on  a  later  occasion,  when  he  begged  that  his 
name  be  erased  from  those  of  the  committee, 
that  was  done  in  no  sense  of  opposition  but  for  want 
of  time.  In  a  word,  let  all  comprehend  that  the  two 
Catholic  missionaries  understood  too  well  the  deli- 
cacy of  their  position  in  this  new  and  unsettled  coun- 
try, to  commit  such  imprudent  blunders. 

The  Catholic  Church  was   progressing   at   Oregon 


152  SKETCHE8       OF       THE 

City  under  the  teaching  of  Father  De  Vos,  whose 
sermons  were  touching.  On  July  31,  he  received  the 
profession  of  faith  from  Dr.  Long  and  lady  and 
Miss  Cason.  In  1846, the  following  became  converts, 
viz:  Hon.  P.  H.  Burnett,  June  7th;  Miss  Walter 
Rogers,  Aug.  3d;  Maria  E.  Mc  Laughlin,  (Mrs. 
widow  Rae),  Oct  4th;  and  in  1847,  Fendell  Car 
Cason,  Feb.  28;  and  W.  Wood,  aged  77  years,  Mch. 
7th.  St  Paul  had  also  its  converts  in  the  persons  of 
Mr  Johnson,  and  a  learned  doctor  and  bis  lady, 
which  were  very  edifying.  No  one  dared  to  ask  the 
doctor  why  he  had  returned  to  his  ancestors  religion. 
Three  or  four  thousand  immigrants  are  expected  this 
year.  The  good  doctor  Long  had  the  misfortune  to 
get  drowned  while  crossing  the  Clackamas  river  on 
horseback,  ten  or  eleven  months  after  his  conversion. 
His  remains  were  buried  in  the  enclosure  of  the 
church  of  Oregon  City,  by  Father  I^e  Yos,  in  the 
beginning  oijune  or  July,  1846. 

Condition  of  the  Mission  at  the  end  of  1844 


A  deputation  of  Indians  came  down  from  New 
Caledonia  to  Vancouver,  in  1844,  to  call  for  a  mis- 
sionary. The  number  of  priests  not  permitting  their 
petition  to  be  granted,  they  returned  home  sorrowful. 
Father  De  Smet  having  brought  some  priests.  Father 
Nobili  started  in  1845  for  Caledonia.  In  1846  anoth- 
er Father  went  to  assist  him,  returning,  they  came 
back  in  the  sprfng  of  1847.  Mostly  all  the  Indian 
tribes  of  Caledonia  had  been  instructed  and  baptized. 

At  the  end  of  1844,  after  six  years  of  efforts,  dispro" 


CJNIVI 

CATHOLIC       CHURCH      IN       OREgW.  153 

portioned  with  the  needs  of  the  country,  the  vast 
mission  of  Oregon,  on  the  eve  of  its  being  erected 
into  a  vicariate  a230stolic,  had  gained  nearly  all  the 
Indian  tribes  of  the  Sound,  Caledonia,  and  several  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  lower  Oregon.  It  had 
brought  6,000  pagans  to  the  faith.  Nine  missions 
had  been  founded;  five  in  lower  Oregon,  and  four  at 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  Eleven  churches  and  chapels 
had  been  erected,  five  in  lower  Oregon,  two  in  Cale- 
donia, and  four  at  the  Rocky  Mountains.  One  thou- 
sand Canadians,  women  and  children,  had  been 
saved  from  the  imminent  peril  of  losing  their  faith. 
The  schemes  of  the  Protestant  ministers  had  been 
fought  and  nearly  annihilated,  especially  atNesqualy, 
Vancouver,  Cascades,  Clackamas,  and  Wallamette 
'  Falls,  so  that  a  visitor  came  in  1844  and  disbanded 
the  whole  Methodist  Mission,  and  sold  its  property. 
The  Catholic  Mission  possessed  two  educational  es- 
tablishments, one  for  boys  and  the  other  for  girls; 
the  number  of  its  missionaries  had  been  raised  from 
eight,  (four  secular  and  four  regular  priests),  to 
fifteen,  without  speaking  of  the  treasure  the  mission 
had  in  the  persons  of  the  good  Religieuses  of  Notre 
Dame  de  Namur.  Such  were  the  results  obtained  in 
spite  of  the  want  of  missionaries,  which  greatly  im- 
paired all  their  efforts. 


Bishop  elect  Journey  to  Canada,  Rome,  and  return 
TO   Oregon. 


The  bark  Columbia  sailed  from  Astoria  to  Honolu- 
lu in  26  days.     She  stayed  there  12   days  which   the 


154  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

Bishop  elect  spent  with  the  Piepus  Fathers,  who  had 
a  splendid  stone  church  measuring  150  feet,  a  large 
congregation  and  a  beautiful  Sunday  service.  The 
bark  leaving  Honolulu  on  Jan.  12th,  1846,  doubled 
Cape  Horn  March  5th,  and  reached  Deal,  England, 
May  22nd,  being  five  months  and  eighteen  days  from 
Astoria.  The  Bishop  elect  passed  to  Dover  and  from 
thence  to  London,  where,  he  remained  for  ten  days, 
the  guest  of  Mr.  Tabbe  Mailly,  pastor  of  the  French 
chapel  in  London.  Embarking  at  Liverpool  on  June 
4th,  he  reached  Boston  on  the  19th,  and  Montreal, 
Canada,  on  the  24th.  A  few  days  after  he  arrived  at 
Quebec,  whose  venerable  church  at  that  time  was 
draped  in  mourning  on  the  occasion  of  the  burning 
of  its  suburb,  St.  Roch,  a  month  before,  and  that  of. 
St  John  a  few  days  previous. 

Being  unable  to  receive  his  episcopal  consecration 
at  Quebec,  the  Bishop  elect  determined  to  receive 
it  at  Montreal,  with  Bishop  elect,  Prince  coadjutor  of 
Montreal,  the  ceremony  having  to  take  place  on 
July  25th.  The  consecrator  was  the  Jume  and  Rire 
Bishop  of  Montreal.  There  were  present  on  the  oc- 
casion,five  bishops,  besides  the  two  elects,  150  priests 
50  other  clerics,  and  an  immense  crowd  of  faithfuls. 
Canada  had  never  witnessed  a  festival  of  such  splen- 
dor  before.  It  was  in  Canada  that  the  Bishop  of 
Philadelphia  in  part,  learned  that  his  title  had  been 
changed  into  that  of  Drasa,  in  May  7th,  1844.  After 
passing  a  month  and  a  half  in  Canada,  the  bishop  of 
Drasa  left  for  Boston,  July  12th,  reached  Liverpool, 
passed  some  days  in  London,  went  through  Brighton, 
Dieppe,  Rouen,  and  reached  Paris  on  Sept.  8(h,    tak- 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         155 

ing  his   lodging   at  the    Brothers  of    St.  Jean    De 
Dieu. 

The  Bishop  of  Drasa  had  a  great  task  to  perform 
before  returning  to  his  vicariate;  which  was  to  ob- 
tain from  Rome  some  assistant  bishops,  to  look  for 
new  missionaries  and  new  sisters,  and  collect  funds 
to  enable  him  to  buy  the  requisites  for  his  yicariate^ 
and  pay  the  freight  upon  them  and  also  the  passage 
of  the  missionaries.  All  this  required  much  time 
and  travelling,  and  going  backward  and  forward. 
Hence,  it  took  twelve  months,  from  Oct.  1845  to  Oct. 
1846,  to  look  for  help  and  funds,  followed  by  waiting 
nearly  five  months  for  a  ship  in  Avhich  to  return 
home. 

His  first  trip  and  visit  was  to  Belgium  in  order  to 
secure  new  Beligieuses  of  Notre  Dame  de  Namur. 
On  his  way  he  passed  through  Cambrai,  Douwai, 
Lille,  Gand,  Malines  and  Bruxelles.  All  who  heard 
of  his  mission  became  deeply  interested  in  it.  His 
second  visit  was  to  Rome.  Leaving  Paris  on  Dec. 
17th,he  spent  the  festivals  of  Christmas  at  Marseilles, 
and  reached  the  holy  city  on  Jan.  5th,  1846.  He 
soon  obtained  an  audience  and  was  received  several 
times  by  His  Holiness  Pope  Gregory  XYI.  The 
four  months  he  passed  in  the  eternal  city  were  well 
employed.  He  presented  to  the  sacred  congregation 
of  the  Propaganda  a  memorial  on  the  condition  and 
wants  of  his  vicariate.  He  visited  the  four  great 
Basilicas  and  other  great  churches  and  monuments. 
He  descended  to  the  Catacombs  several  times,  and 
obtained  the  relics  of  four  holy  bodies  of  martyrs  for 
his  vicariate,  viz:     S.  Jovian,    )^.    Severin,    S.    Flavie 


156  SKETCHES       OF      THE 

and  S.  Victoire.  Leaving  Rome  on  the  8th  of  May, 
for  Paris,  he  visited  on  his  way,  Livourne,  Genes, 
Marseilles,  Avignon,  Lyon,  and  Chalons.  He  stayed 
some  days  at  Avignon, and  remained  a  week  at  Lyon, 
the  guest  of  the  Grand  Seminaire.  He  had  been 
allowed  to  address  its  300  seminarists,  three  of  them 
soon  presented  themselves  for  the  mission  of  Oregon; 
they  were  B.  Delorme,  F.  Veyret,  and  J.  F.  Jayot. 
He  assisted,  on  that  occasion,  on  May  24th,  to  the 
episcopal  consecration  of  Mgr.  Pavy,  Bishop  of  Al- 
giers. 

Having  already  visited  the  principal  towns  of  Bel- 
gium with  much  success  in  1845,  the  Bishop  of 
Drasa  directed  his  steps  this  year  towards  Prussia 
Bavaria,  and  Austria.  Leaving  Paris,  June  17,  he 
went  first  to  Liege  and  assisted,  on  the  21st,  'at  the 
grand  procession  of  Corpus  Christi,  at  which  were 
present  17  bishojDS,  a  large  number  of  priests  and  an 
immense  religious  crowd.  It  was  the  jubilee  of  the 
VI  century  of  the  festival  which  took  its  birth  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Martin.  He  then  visited  Verviers, 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  Cologne,  and  next,  in  descending 
the  Rhine,  Bonn,  Coblentz,  Mayence,  Francfort, 
Achaffenbourg;  after  which  passing  through  Wurz- 
burg,  and  Donavert  he  reached  Munich  where  he 
spent  8  days;  the  guest  of  the  barefooted  Fathers  of 
St.  Augustin.  And  descending  the  Danube,  he  next 
visited  Passau,  Lintz,  and  Vienne,  where  he  remain- 
ed three  weeks,  the  guest  of  the  Redemptorist  Fa- 
thers. On  returning  he  visited  Augsburg,  and 
Strasburg,  where  he  remained  a  week,  the  guest  of 
its  illustrious  bishop.     And  on  Auo;ust   2 1st   he    was 


CA.THOLIO       CHURCH       IN        OREGON.  1S7 

again  in  Paris,  tlie  guest  of  the  seminary  of  foreign 
missions. 

It  was  on  his  return  to  Paris  that  he  learned  his 
vicariate  had  been  erected,  by  Briefs  of  July  24th, 
1846,  into  an  ecclesiastical  province,  with  the  three 
sees  of  Oregon  City,  Walla  Walla,  and  Vancouver 
Island ;  and  that  the  Vicar  Apostolic  was  called  to 
the  metropolis  of  Oregon  City;  Rev.  A.  M.  A.  Blan- 
chet,  Canon  of  Montreal,  to  that  of  Walla  Walla, 
and  Vicar  General  Demers  to  that  of  Vancouver 
Island. 

In  the  course  of  his  long  rounds,  the  Bishop 
of  Drasa  met  everywhere  with  the  warm  sympathies 
of  Nuncios,  archbishops,  bishops,  pastors  of  churches? 
and  the  highest  authority  of  each  state.  He  was  re- 
ceived in  audience  by  their  majesties  the  King  and 
Queen  of  Belgium;  by  his  majesty  the  King  of  Ba- 
varia; by  their  I.  M.  the  Emperor  and  Em23ress  Mo- 
ther, and  his  highness  the  Archduke  Louis  of  Aus- 
tria; and  three  times  by  his  majesty  Louis  Philippe, 
King  of  France. 

The  sympathies  of  King  Louis  Philippe  for  the 
great  mission  of  Oregon  prompted  him  to  grant  a 
free  passage  to  the  archbishop  and  his  missionary 
companions  on  the  vessels  of  the  royal  navy;  but  this 
favor  becoming  impossible  by  unexpected  circum- 
stances, he  ordered  their  excellencies,  Mr.  Guizot, 
minister  of  the  interior,  and  Mr.  Makau,  minister  of 
the  marine,  to  pay  each  7,200  fr,  as  an  indemnity  for 
the  expense  the  delay  might  put  him  to.  This  added 
to  the  3,000  fr  the  King  had  already  given  him,  on 
his  return  from  the  East,  made  the  fine   round   sum 


158  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

of  17,800  fr    received   from   the    Government.     God 
Hess  La  belle  France  for  sncli  a  gift  ! 

The  passage  on  the  government  vessel  failing,  the 
Oceanic  Maritime  Society  came  forward,  offering  a 
passage  in  October;  but  that  failing,  three  Belgian 
vessels  offered  themselves,  but  were  found  too  small 
to  accomodate  22  passengers.  The  Oceanic  Maritime 
Society  then  bought  a  vessel  which  was  expected  to 
start  at  the  end  of  December.  On  learning  that,  the 
archbishop  went  to  Namur,  returning  with  the  Sisters 
to  Paris,  on  Dec.  22nd;  but  that  was  a  month  too 
soon,  as  the  vessel  was  not  ready  at  that  time.  The 
missionaries  had  also  their  trouble  of  coming  several 
times  to  Paris  for  departure  and  being  obliged  to  re- 
turn elsewhere  to  save  town  expenses.  At  last,  the 
vessel  leaving  Havre  for  Brest  on  Jan.  9th,  1847,  the 
archbishop  and  mis^^ionaries  left  Paris  on  Jan.  20th, 
and  reached  Brest  on  the  23rd;  but  the  vessel  had 
not  yet  completed  her  cargo.  It  is  but  just  to  men- 
tion here  that  the  pious  Leopoldine  Society  of  Vi- 
enne,  the  directors  of  the  railroad  in  Belgium  and 
France,  and  the  Messageries  Roy  ales  gave  a  distin- 
guished mark  of  their  sympathies  in  favor  of  the 
Oregon  mission;  the  first  in  tendering  4,000  florins; 
the  second  by  granting  the  archbishop  and  sisters 
with  their  baggage,  a  free  pass  on  the  railroad  from 
Namur  to  Paris;  and  the  last  in  allowing  persons 
and  baggage  to  pass  at  half  fare  from  Paris  to  Brest. 

The  bark  was  blessed  and  called  L'Etoile  du  Matin 
by  the  archbishop,  on  Feb.  2nd,  in  presence  of  a 
religious  crowed.  The  wind  being  favorable,  all  went 
on  board  on  the  10th;  but  the  following  day  being   a 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         159 

dead  calm  all  returned  on  shore.  At  last,  after  a 
month's  delay  at  Brest,  the  L'Etoile  du  Matin,  Capt. 
Menes,  put  to  sea  on  Feb.  22nd,  1847.  The  religious 
colony  she  carried  was  composed  of  22  persons,  in- 
cluding the  archbishop,  viz:  the  seven  sisters  of 
Notre  Dame  de  Namur;  the  3  Jesuit  Fathers,  Gaets, 
Gazzoli,  and  Menestrey,  and  3  lay  brothers;  the  fiye 
secular  priests,  LeBas,  McCormick,  Deleveau,  Pretot, 
and  Veyret;  the  two  deacons,  B.  Delorme  and  J.  F. 
Jayol,  and  one  cleric,  T.  Mesj^lie:  the  department 
of  the  sisters  was  pretty  good.  A  long  saloon  and  a 
long  table  was  common  to  all.  An  altar  had  been 
fixed  at  the  after  part  of  the  ship,  whereon  holy 
masses  were  celebrated  every  day,  on  the  rel- 
ics of  the  four  holy  martyrs.  Sunday  and  evening 
services,  on  deck,  were  very  solemn  and  impressive. 
Prayer,reading  and  study  were  the  daily  occupations 
of  the  missionaries.  The  beauties  of  the  vast  sea 
and  of  the  spangled  vault,  especially  of  the  southern 
bright  starry  firmament  at  night  were  subjects  of  pro- 
profound  meditation  on  the  powerful  creating  hands 
of  God  :  ''the  heavens  show  forth  the  glory  of  God; 
and  the  firmament  declareth  the  work  of  his  hands  ; 
wonderful  are  the  surges  of  the  sea;  wonderful  is 
the  Lord  on   high.'^ 

Yes,  a  thousand  times  yes,  he  who  said  to  Simon  : 
"Thou  art  Peter,  (a  rock)  and  upon  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  Church  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  pre- 
vail against  it,"  is  the  same  God,  the  Son 
of  God,  ''who  made  all  things,  and  without 
whom  was  made  nothing  that  was  made."  And 
yet,    alas  !     there    have    been    found   pigmies,   and 


160  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

worms  of  the  earth,  men  so  perverse  as,  while  believ- 
ing the  power  of  God  in  creating  the  heavens  and 
earth,  proudly  and  insultingly  deny  Him  the  same 
efficient  power  in  building^  His  infallible  Church  for 
the  salvation  of  souls  created  to  His  own  image  and 
likeness;  and  who  foolishly  began  a  pretended  refor- 
mation. Great  God  !  What  nonsense  !  what  folly  ! 
what  horrible  blasphemy  ! 

The  sailing  of  the  bark  was  generally  smooth  with 
the  exception  of  two  heavy  storms;  the  first  which 
came  on  a  sudden  from  the  west,  on  the  parallel  of 
Rio  Janeiro,  and  lasted  24  hours,  carried  the  bark 
some  hundred  miles  out  of  her  course.  It  was  a  real 
tempest;  the  second  one  lasted  eight  days  during 
which  the  wind  was  veiy  high  and  contrary,  and  the 
sea  heavy,  when  turning  from  south  to  north  in  th« 
Pacific.  On  both  occasions  the  captain  appeared 
very  uneasy. 

The  land  of  promise  appeared  at  last  on  Aug.  8th, 
and  the  bark  arrived  12  miles  of  Cape  Disappoint- 
ment. She  remained  outside  five  da^^s  for  want  of  a 
pilot  and  wind.  At  last,  having  been  five  months 
and  twenty-three  days  from  Brest,  and  under  the 
pilotage  of  Reeves,  she  crossed  the  bar  safely  and 
entered  the  Columbia  river  late  in  the  afternoon  of 
Aug.  13th,  1847,  and  cast  anchor  in  Gray's  Bay. 
Then  it  was  that  the  missionaries,  in  their  exceeding 
great  joy,  chanted  a  Te  Deum,  which  the  echoes  of 
Cape  Disappointment  and  the  neighboring  hills  re- 
peated with  emulation.  On  the  17th  of  August  the 
L'Etoile  du  Matin  got  aground  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Wallamette;  and  on  the  19th,   the   sisters   and  mis- 


CATHOLIC       CHUiH-n       IN     ORiXION.  .   161 

sionaries  left  her  for  St.  Paul,  whicli  they  reachevi  on 
Saturday  the  26th,  late  at  night.  The  archbishop 
left  her  on  the  25th,  celebrated  a  mass  in  the  cathe- 
dral at  Oregon  City  on  the  26th,  reached  Chanipoeg 
the  following  day,  and  from  thence,  accompanied  by 
a  large  concourse  of  Catholics  and  Protestants;  he 
entered  the  church  at  St.  Paul  vested  with  episcopal 
robe,  mosetta,  crosier  and  mitre.  After  the  Te  Deum 
and  Beiiediction  of  the  blessed  Sacrament,  and  ap- 
propriate words  of  the  archbishop,  all  retired  happy. 
The  bishop  elect  had  been  two  years  and  seven 
months  absent. 


Rejoicings  in  the  Archdiocese.  Arrival  ok  the 
Bishop  of  Walla  Walla.  Consecration  of  B/sh- 
op  Demers.     Condition  of  the  Dioceses. 

From  the  arrival  of  the  Archbishop  to  the  sad  even^ 
which  put  the  Catholic  jinissions  of  Oregon  upon  a 
brink  of  their  ruin,  there  was  but  festivities  and  re- 
joicings in  the  Archdiocese,  especially  at  St,  Paal. 
The  presence  of  the  Archbishop  in  the  Church,  on  his 
throne,  with  episcopal  insignia,  surrounded  by  a 
numerous  clergy ,  the  beauty  of  the  chant,  music  and 
solemnity  of  the  service,  were  drawing  the  faithful 
who  could  not  be  weary  of  contemplating  the  beau« 
ties  of  the  house  of  Grod.  \ 

On  Sundays,  August  29th,  and  September  5tii. ,  the 
Archbishop  mounted  the  piilpit,  and  gave  some  de- 
tails  of  his  journey.  On  the  8rd  Sunday,  he  adminis- 
tered the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation  to  a  large  num- 
ber of  persons.     On  the  4th  Sunday,   he    made   an 


162  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

ordination,  raising  Deacon  Joyal  to  tlie  priestlioocl. 
On  the  5th  Sunday,  he  gave  Confirmation  at  fort 
Vancouver.  On  the  Gth,  7th,  and  8th  Sundays,  he 
was  at  St.  Francis  Xaverius  mission  of  Cowlitz,  where 
he  remained  two  weeks  and  which,  then,  contained 
25  families,  186  souls,  of  whom  130  adults  and  56 
children,  and  74  communicants.  He  confirmed  there 
50  persons,  celebrated  High  Mass  on  the  2nd  and 
3rd  Sunday;  the  office  before  noon  and  afternoon 
was  made  solemn  by  the  plain  chant  and  the  ^nging 
of  French  impressive  canticles  by  the  two  choirs  of 
men  and  ^omen.  He  witnessed  once  more  the  suc- 
successful  efforts  of  the  two  first  missionaries  in 
teaching,  in  the  French  missions,  the  first  couplet  of 
a  large  number  of  French  canticles,  which  were  sung 
on  Sundays  and  week  days,  by  the  whites  as  well  as 
by  Indians  in  paddling  their  canoes.  He  was  at  St. 
Paul  on  the  9th  Sunday ;  made  an  ordination  in 
October  31,  that  of  Deacon  Delorme  to  the  priest- 
hood. On  the  following  day,  All  Saints,  a  Pontificial 
High  Mass  was  celebrated  with  a  solemnity,  as  to 
chant,  music  and  ceremonies,  not  witnessed  before. 
In  fine,  the  30th  of  November,  1847,  feast  of  the 
Apostle  St.  Andrew,  falling  on  a  Tuesday,  put  the 
crown  to  all  the  previous  festivities  and  rejoicings  of 
the  faithful,  by  the  episcopal  consecration,  which  the 
Bishop-Elect  of  Vancouver  Island  received  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Paul,  on  that  day,  at  the  hands  of  the 
Archbishop,  in  the  presence  of  a  numerous  clergy 
and  a  large  number  of  faithful.  While  the  Archbish- 
op was  on  sea,  sailing  for  his  Archdiocese,  the  Bishop 
of  Walla  Walla,  who  was  consecrated  on  September 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         163 

27tb,  1846,  left  Montreal  for  St.  Louis,  in  March 
1847.  Commencing  from  there  a  journey  of  five 
months,  in  wagon,  on  the  plains,  he  reached  Fort 
Walla  Walla  on  September  5th,  seven  days  after  the 
arrival  of  the  Archbishop  at  St.  Paul.  He  was  ac- 
companied with  nine  persons,  viz  :  four  Fathers,  O. 
M.  I.,  of  Marseilles  and  two  lay  brothers ;  and  two 
secular  priests.  Rev.  Father  Brouillet,  V.  G.,  of 
Walla  Walla,  Rev.  Mr.  Reasseau  and  Guillaume 
Leclaire,  a  Deacon.  He  was  heartily  received 
by  the  commandant  of  the  fort,  Mr  McBrean 
and  family,  who  were  Catholics,  and  treated,  with  his 
clergy,  with  great  attention  and  respect. 

By  the  arrivals  from  France  and  Canada,  the 
ecclesiastical  Province  of  Oregon  City  possessed  in  the 
Fall  of  1847  3  Bishops,  14  Jesuit  Fathers,  4  Oblate 
Fathers  of  M.  J.,  13  Secular  priests,  including  a 
Deacon  ordained  in  1849,  and  a  cleric,  T.  Mesplie, 
ordained  in  May  1850,  13  Sisters  and  two  houses  of 
education. 

The  Archbishop  started  with  10  priests  including 
T.  Mesplie,  two  Jesuit  Fathers  at  St.  Ignaces  resi- 
dence,  13  Sisters  and  two  educational  houses.  The 
Bishop  of  Walla  Walla  was  starting  with  3 
Secular  priests  including  a  Deacon,  4  Oblate 
Fathers  of  M.  J.,  and  12  Jesuit  Fathers  at  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  Bishop  of  Vancouver  Island  had 
not  even  one  priest  to  accompany  him  to  Victoria. 
Such  was  tlie  situation  on  the  eve  of  a  most  ennnent 
dange^ 

The  whole  mission  of  Oregon  having  been  divided 
in  8  districts,  the  three  Sees  comprised,  to  the  See  of 


164  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

Vancouver  Island  were  attached  the  districts  of  New 
Caledonia  and  Prince  Charlotte  Island ;  to  the  See 
of  Oregon  City  was  attached  the  district  of  Nesqualy; 
the  See  of  Walla  Walla  were  attached  these  districts 
of  Colville  and  fort  Hall.  On  a  later  occasion,  the 
Columbia  river  and  parallel  46  became  the  line  of 
division  between  the  dioceses  of  Oregon  City  and 
Nesqualy  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Eocky   Mountains. 

The  three  Sees  and  the  districts  attached  to  them 
contained  numerous  tribes  of  Indians,  who  had  been 
visited  several  times  by  the  Catholic  missionaries  and 
converted  in  great  part  to  the  Catholic  faith  ;  they 
wore  calling  for  priests  since  1838.  The  time  had 
arrived  to  see  their  earnest  desires  acccomplished. 
This  was  to  be  the  case  of  the  Cayuses  living  on  the 
Umatilla,  their  camp  being  30  miles  from  anoth- 
er C'-ivuse  camp  situated  on  the  Walla  Walla,  a  few 
miles  from  tlie  fort.  The  first  camp  was  Catholic  at 
heart,  and  their  chief  Tamatowe  offered  a  home  to 
the  Bishop. 

The  Diocese  of  Walla  Walla  had  this  speciality, 
that  it  had  already  three  Presbyteiian  missions  ;  one 
at  Waitlatpu,  on  the  Walla  Walla,  among  the  Cay- 
Uv^es  mentioned  above,  established  in  1836,  by  Dr. 
Whitman ;  another  at  Lapwai,  on  the  Clearwater, 
six  days  journey  from  the  Walla  W^alla  fort,  estab- 
lished in  1836  among^  the  Nez  Perces  by  minister 
Spalding  ;  and  the  last  established  in  1838  by  Mr. 
Eils  among  the  Spokanes.  Hence  the  trouble,  the 
Bishop  being  regarded  as  an  intruder.  » 

The  object  of  the  Fathers,  O.  M.  I.',  being  the 
evangelization  of  the  Indians,  they   left  fort    Walla 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         165 

Walla  with  Father  Richard,  their  superior,  early  in 
October,  to  go  and  found  a  mission  among  the  Indi- 
ans of  Yakima.  The  Bishop  of  Walla  Walla  left  the 
fort,  with  his  clergy,  for  the  Catholic  camp  of  the 
Cayuses,  on  October  27th.,  and  reached  the  place  the 
same  day,  a  Saturday. 

The  arrival  of  the  Bishop  of  Wcalla  Walla  with  his 
clergy  to  the  fort  was  a  thunderbolt  to  the  Presby- 
terian ministers,  specially  to  Dr.  Whitman.  He  was 
wounded  to  the  heart  by  it.  He  could  not  refrain 
from  expressing  his  great  dissatisfaction,  saying  he 
would  do  all  in  his  power  to  thwart  the  Bishop.  Such 
was  the  situation  of  aifairs  and  the  sad  prospect  of 
the  Bishop,  on  Sunday,  November  28th.,  the  eve  of 
the  terrible  tragedy  which  brought  the  Catholic  miss- 
ions and  its  establishments  in  Oregon  upon  the  brink 
of  its  ruin;  for  at  the  sight  of  the  good  already  done 
and  to  be  done  by  the  army  of  the  zealous  mission- 
aries just  arrived,  the  devil,  shaking  with  anger  and 
rage,  resolved  to  make  his  last  efforts  to  utterly  ruin 
the  Catholic  clergy  on  this  Coast;  hence  the  horrible, 
drama. 


The  Dr.   \*/hitman  and   Wife    2v[ii{I)f 


The  emigration  of  1847  had  brought  dysentery  and 
measles  among  the  Protestant  camp,  197  of  them 
had  succumbed  to  the  epidemic.  The  Indians  al- 
ready much  displeased  with  their  teacher.  Dr. 
Whitman,  for  his  lack  of  good  faith  and  lidielit^nn  his 
promises,  suspected  him  of  poisoning  them.  They 
were  confirmed  in  their  suspicion  by  the  report  of  a 
certain  half-breed  of  the  place,  called  Joseph  Lewis, 


166  SKETCHES      OF      THE 

raised  in  the  Eastern  States,  saying  :  ''He  Lad  heard, 
at  night,  Dr.  Whitman,  his  wife  and  minister  Spald- 
ing speaking  on  the  necessity  to  kill  them,  in  order  to 
seize  their  lands  ;**  and  adding,  ''If  you  don't  kill 
them,  you  will  be  all  dead  next  Spring."  Thereupon, 
the  death  of  Dr.  \Yhitman  was  resolved. 

On  Sunday,  the  28th, ,  six  other  Indians  were  bur- 
ied. On  Monday,  the  29th.,  1847,  after  having  bur- 
ied three  other  of  their  brethren,  a  certain  number  of 
them  went  to  Dr.*  Whitman's  establishment  about  2r 
or  3  p.  M.,  and  entered  his  yard,  carrying  weapons 
concealed  under  their  blankets,  while  the  few  men 
were  busy,  they  began  their  work  of  destruction,  by 
butchering  the  Doctor,  his  wife  and  8  other  Americans 
that  day. 

On  Monday,  November  30th.,  the  Vicar  General 
having  to  go  and  baptize  some  sick  children  at  the 
Protestant  Cayuse  camp  according  to  promise,  he 
started  and  arrived  there  at  7  p.  m.  There  it  was  that 
he  heard  of  the  atrocious  drama.  He  passed  the 
whole  night  awake.  On  the  morning  of  Dec.  1,  after 
baptizing  the  children,  he  went  to  the  dreadful  place 
of  the  massacre,  consoled  the  woman  kept  in  the 
Doctor's  house,  washed  the  bodies  and  buried  them 
with  the  assistance  of  a  Frenchman  called  Standfield 
who  had  been  spared ;  and  all  that  in  the  presence  of 
the  murderers  ;  and  going  once  more  to  console  the 
women,  he  started  in  haste  in  order  to  meet  and  save 
Minister  Spalding's  life  who  was  coming  on  that  day 
from  the  Cayuse  camp  to  the  Doctor's  house. 


catholic    church     in     oregon.  167 

Narrow  Escape  of  Mr.  Spalding. — The  Lives  oe  Fa- 
ther Brouillet,  Bishop  and  Clergy  in  Great  Dan- 
ger— The  Prisoners  Redeemed  and  Carried  to 
Oregon  City  by  Chief  Factor  Ogden. 


Father  Brouillet  was  much  pained  when, in  starting, 
he  saw  one  of  the  murderers  following  him  with  his 
interpreter,  who  was  an  Indian.  He  had  barely  made 
3  miles  when  he  observed  the  minister  Spalding  com- 
ing in,who  at  once  called  for  news.  The  Vicar  General 
hesitates,  the  minister  urges  him  ;  the  Vicar  General 
evades  his  questions  and  keeps  an  animated  conver- 
sation with  interpreter  and  murderer.  He  begs  for 
mercy  and  the  life  of  the  minister ;  the  murderer  hesi- 
tates, and  says  at  last  he  must  go  and  consult  his 
friends,  and  forthwith  starts  at  full  speed.  Then, 
Father  Brouillet  reveals  to  Mr.  Splalding  the  horrors  of 
the  slaughterer,  the  subject  of  his  conversation  with 
the  murderer,  the  object  of 'his  running  back,  and 
recommends  him  to  take  a  determination  at  once,  if 
he  wishes  to  save  his  life,  as  the  murderer  will  soon  re- 
turn.  Mr.  Spalding  is  struck  with  terror  ;  he  utters 
sad  lamentations,  asks  many  questions,  and  knows 
not  what  to  resolve  upon.  He  asks  and  receives  pro- 
visions, and  Father  Brouillet  leaves  him  still  talking 
with  the  interpreter.  At  last  he  rushes  to  the  forest 
at  dusk  in  the  evening.  The  Vicar  General  had 
scarcely  made  a  few  miles  when  he  heard  the  racing 
trot  of  horses  ;  they  were  three  men,  and  gave  vent 
to  their  great  displeasure  when  they  did  not  see  Mr. 
Spalding.  From  that  day  the  life  of  Father  Brouillet 
was  not  safe  from  danger.     He  v/as  held  responsible 


168  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

for  the  escape  of  the  minister.  That  night  he  passed 
also  without  sleep. 

On  Thursday,  December  2nd. ,  he  reached  the  young 
chief  Tamatcnne  camp  early.  On  learning  the  atroci- 
ious  deed,  the  Bishop,  and  clergy,  and  the  whole 
camp  were  struck  with  consternation.  A  few  days 
after  an  express  arrived  from  Fort  Walla  Walla,  in- 
forming the  Bishop  that  his  life  and  the  lives  of  the 
IDriests  were  in  great  danger,  on  the  part  of  a  certain 
number  of  Indians  who  could  not  forgive  Father 
Brouillet  for  having  deprived  them  of  the  chance  of 
adding  another  victim  to  the  ten  first  ones.  On  the 
3rd.,  the  Bishop  assembled  the  chiefs,  expressed  the 
deep  pain  and  sorrow  he  felt  at  the  enormous  crime, 
and  recommended  them  earnestly  to  use  their  influ- 
ence in  order  to  save  the  widows  and  orphans.  The 
chiefs  answered  that  they  had  no  hand  in  the  massa- 
cre, and  would  use  their  influence  to  save  the  lives  of 
the  captives.  A  few  days  later,  a  young  man,  who 
stayed  in  the  Doctor's  mill,  20  miles  distant,  was  also 
killed ;  the  rest  had  the  chance  to  escape.  On  the 
10th.,  the  two  sick  men  w^ho  were  spared  on  the  day 
of  extermination,  were  drawn  from  their  beds  and 
cruelly  massacred.  On  the  11th.,  one  of  the  captives 
was  carried  away  to  the  tent  of  one  of  the  chiefs. 

On  December  16th.,  the  Bishop  received  a  letter, 
dated  10th.,  from  Mr.  Spalding,  relating  the  hard- 
ships of  his  six  days  travelling  but  at  night,  partly 
on  foot,  begging  him  to  tell  the  Indians  that  the 
Americans  would  not  make  war  ;  and  the  Americans 
not  to  come  for  revenge,  and  to  send  his  letter  to  the 
Governor,     On  December  20th.,  the  great  and  subal- 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         169 

tern  chiefs  repaired  to  the  Bishop's  house  to  hold  a 
council  before  him  and  his  clergy,  in  which  after  a 
long  talk  and  deliberations,  a  manifesto  was  drawn, 
and  given  to  the  Bishop  to  be  sent  to  the  Governor 
with  a  letter  from  him.  The  Bishop  availed  himself 
of  the  occasion  to  recommend  once  more  and  earnest- 
estly  that  they  who  had  carried  away  some  of  the 
captives,  to  return  them  without  delay. 

As  soon  as  the  sad  tidings  of  the  Wailatpu  mas- 
sacre had  reached  Fort  Vancouver,  Chief  Factor  Og- 
den,  knowing  the  importance  of  a  prompt  action, 
started  without  delay  to  come  to  the  help  and  rescue 
of  the  captives.  On  reaching  Fort  Walla  Walla  on 
December  19th,  he  sent  an  express  to  notify  all  the 
chiefs  to  come  and  assemble  at  the  Fort.  On  a  first 
invitation,  the  Bishop  begged  to  be  excused  ;  on  a 
second,  he  came  down  with  his  clergy.  The  assem- 
bly took  place  on  December  23rd.  Chief  Factor 
Ogden  strongly  deprecated  the  horrible  massacre, 
threw  the  blame  on  the  chiefs  for  not  restraining  the 
young  men,  and  said  he  did  not  come  on  the  part  of 
the  Americans,  but  only  on  the  part  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company ;  he  would  not  promise  peace,  but 
would  employ  his  influence  to  obtain  it ;  that  he 
had  come  to  redeem  the  prisoners,  and  exjoected  he 
had  not  come  in  vain.  The  chiefs  answered  him  that 
in  consideration  of  his  age,  white  hairs,  and  the  as- 
surance that  he  was  unable  to  deceive  them,  they 
would  grant  his  request.  The  Nez  Perces  chiefs 
consented  to  release  Mr.  Spalding,  his  family  and 
other  Americans  held  as  hostages. 

On  December  29,  the  prisoners  of   Wailatpu,  51  in 


170  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

ail  arrived  at  the  Fort ;  those  of  Lapwai,  11  in  all  ar- 
rived on  January  1st,  1848,  under  an  escort  of  50 
warriors.  A  high  price  was  paid  for  all  the  captives. 
The  following  day  was  fixed  for  the  departure,  now 
most  urgent  on  account  of  the  strange  rumors  which 
circulated  among  the  Indians,  that  the  Americans 
were  at  the  Dalles,  coming  for  a  revenge  ;  which  ru- 
mors might  in  a  moment  make  the  Indians  change 
their  minds  and  try  to  keep  the  prisoners  as  hosta- 
ges. The  Bishop  accepted  a  passage  on  the  boats  ; 
he  was  accompanied  by  Rev.  Mr.  Rousseau,  and  by 
Father  Richard,  O.  M.  I.  In  spite  of  all  the  dili- 
gence made  by  Chief  Factor  Ogden,  the  boats  ven- 
tured jnto  the  stream  but  at  2  p.  m.,  just  in  time  to 
escape  the  50  Cayuse  warriorss  who  arrived  scarcely 
an  hour  afterwards  to  kill  Mr.  Spalding,  and  no 
doubt,  keep  the  others  as  hostages. 

At  the  Dalles,  the  Minister  Spalding  showed  the 
true  spirit  which  animated  him  towards  the  Indians* 
quite  different  from  that  expressed  in  his  letter  to 
the  Bishop  of  Walla  Walla,  in  urging  Major  Lee  to 
go  in  haste  in  order  to  take  them  by  surprise  ;  and 
in- designing  to  Major  Magone  those  who  deserved 
death,  with  the  exception  of  five  or  six  to  be  spared. 
The  boats  reached  Fort  Vancouver  on  January  8fch. 
On  the  10 1 h  Chief  Factor  Ogden  delivered  the  pris- 
oners to  the  Governor  at  Oregon  City,  with  the  letter 
of  Mr.  Spalding  to  the  Bishop,  the  manifesto  of  the 
chiefs,  accompanied  by  the  Bishop's  letter  to  the 
Governor.  The  editors  of  the  Oregon  Spectator 
would  publish  but  a  part  of  Mr.  Spalding's  letter  ; 
but  Mr.  Ogden   saying,    ''must  publish  all    or  noth- 


CATHOLIC       CHURCH 


ing,"  they  consented,  but  with  much  repugnance. 
On  Jan.  15th,  the  Bishop  of  Walla  Walla,  after 
hard  trials  and  eminent  dangers  arrived  safe  at  St. 
Paul,  the  residence  of  his  brother,  the  Archbishop 
of  Oregon  City, 

After  the  Bishop's  departure,  the  Yicar  General 
Brouillefc  left  Fort  Walla  Walla  and  returned  to 
Umatilla  with  Mr.  Leclaire.  He  remained  there  till 
February  20  th,  in  the  midst  of  thousands  of  rumors 
of  troops  at  the  Dalles,  of  battles  and  of  villages  be- 
ing burnt.  He  had  promised  the  cayuses  of  his  mis- 
sion to  remain  with  them  as  long  as  the  peace  would 
last ;  so  he  did,  in  spite  of  many  dangers  on  the  part 
both  of  the  Indians  and  the  Americans.  The  first 
fight  with  the  Americans  having  taken  place  on  Feb. 
19th,  he  thought  he  was  disengaged  from  his  word, 
and  left  the  following  day  for  Fort  Walla  Walla. 
But  the  Indians  were  so  displeased  with  his  depart- 
ure, that  they  plundered  his  house  and  set  it  on 
fire.  And  as  the  Commissioners  called  by  the  chiefs 
to  treat  on  the  peace  were  leaving  on  March  13th,  he 
availed  himself  of  the  occasion  to  go  down  with  his 
companion.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  Kev. 
Fathers  Chirouze,  Pandosy,  and  others  of  the  Yak- 
ima mission;  all  en  route  for  St.  Paul  of  Wallamette, 

EFFECTS  OF  THE  MUEDER    AND  WAR    UPON  THE  CATHOLIC  AND 
PROTESTANT   MISSIONS. 

The  Murder  of  Dr.  Whitman  and  others  had  the 
effect  of  bringing  in  eminent  danger  the  lives  of  the 
Bishop  and  his  clergy.  The  war  which  followed 
brought  the  Cayuse  mission  to  an  end  only  for  a 
short  time  ;   for  a  few  months  after,  the   Cayuses  of 


172     '  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

Umatilla  recalled  their  priests  ;  and  the  Bishop  start- 
ed from  Vancouver,  June  4th,  1848  to  return  to  them. 
He  reached  the  Dalles,  when  he  was  forbidden  to  go 
further,  by  Mr.  Lee,  Superintendent  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs, and  he  began  a  mission  at  the  Dalles,  which 
was  a  part  of  his  diocese.  The  Oblate  Fathers  re- 
turned unmolested  to  the  Yakima  mission,  about  the 
same  time.  Very  different  were  the  effects  of  the 
murder  and  war  upon  the  Presbyterian  Missions  of 
Wailatpu,  .Lapwai  and  Spokane.  They  had  for 
effects  their  total  destruction  forever ;  for  not  only  no 
Indians  recalled  their  Ministers,  but  none  of  them 
would  have  been  safe  there.  Knowing  this,  the  min- 
isters Ells  and  Walker  hastened  to  leave  their  Sx)0- 
kane  mission  at  the  beginning  of  the  War  under  a 
strong  escort. 

BLACK  INGRATITUDE  AND  INFAMOUS  CALUMNIES  OF  MR.  SPAL- 
DING. THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCHES  IN  DANGER  IN  LOWER 
OREGON.  A  PETITION  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE  AGAINST 
THE  PRIESTS. 

The  loss  of  the  ministers  and  their  friends  was 
too  great  not  to  be  deeply  felt.  To  their  grief  suc- 
ceeded fits  of  anger  which  they  discharged  upon  the 
Bishop  and  his  clergy.  The  minister  Spalding  shut- 
ting his  soul  to  all  the  noble  sentiments  of  gratitude, 
and  forgetting  all  its  duties,  accused  the  Bishop  and 
his  clergy  of  having  been  the  instigators  of  the  hor- 
rible massacre.  He  published  in  the  Oregon  Amer- 
ican of  1848,  an  incorrect  history  of  it,  containing 
16  calumnious  charges.  Father  Brouillet,  in  giving 
a  true  history  of  the  massacre,  boldly  refuted  the 
charges  in  a  pamphlet  of  107  pages,  published  by  the 


CATHOLIC      CHURCH      IN     OREGON.  17^ 

Freeman's  Journal  in  1853,  and  republished  by  \he 
Catholic  Sentinel  in  1869.  But  the  orally  maliciouS' 
charges'  of  the  minister,  from  the  beginning  had  al- 
ready produced  the  evil  fruits  of  deep  and  fatal  im- 
jDressions  ;  and  the  excitement  became  so  great  that 
the  volunteers  in  starting  said  that  their  first  shots 
would  be  for  the  Bishop  and  his  priests  ;  and  that, 
for  several  months,  the  Catholic  Churches  and  es~ 
tablishments  in  the  Wallamette  Valley  were  in  the 
greatest  danger  of  being  burnt  down.  But  not  sat-  . 
isfied  with  that,  the  ministers  became  jealous  in  see« 
ing  the  Jesuit  Fathers  safe  and  quiet  among  the  In- 
dians at  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  Oblate  Fathers 
returning  to  their  mission  at  Yakima,  and  the  Bishop 
attending  the  prayers  of  the  Umatilla  Indians,  en 
route  for  that  mission,  while  they  could  not  return. 
This  being  too  much,  they  conceived  the  plan  of  a 
petition  to  be  drawn  up  and  largely  signed,  repeat- 
ing the  infamous  charges,  and  to  be  sent  to  the  Leg- 
islature. It  was  presented,  but  by  that  time  the 
good  common  sense  of  the  people  had  made  them, 
right;  two-thirds  of  the  Legislature  voted  against  it,, 
and  the  officers  of  the  army,  their  soldiers  and  the 
volunteers,  becoming  better  acquainted  with  the 
true  facts  on  reaching  the  seat  of  War,  did  homage 
to  the  truth  in  acknowledging  the  honorable  ani 
loyal  conduct  of  the  Bishop  and  his  clergy. 

Father  Brouillet's  pamphlet  in  1848,  1857,  1869,  and- 
1871.  Charges  RENEWED  in  1869  and  1871  and  an- 
swered in   1872. 

To  those  who  never  read  Father  Brouillet's  pam- 
phlet, made  in  1848,  and  published  in  1853,  and  who^ 


174  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

desire  to  know  its  contents,  we  give   the   title   of  its 
five  chapters,  viz: 

1.  The  remote  and  immediate  causes  which  led  to 
the  Whitman  massacre. 

2.  Documentary  evidence  proving  the  foregoing 
assertion. 

3.  Eeview  of  the  evidence  adduced  in  the  forego- 
ing chapter. 

4.  Journal  of  the  principal  events  that  occurred  in 
the  Walla  Walla  country  from  the  arrival  of  the 
Bishop  and  his  clergy  until  the  moment  they  left  for 
the  Wallamotte  valley.  Letter  of  Father  Brouilllet, 
from  fort  Walla  Walla,  March  2nd,  1848,  to  Col. 
Gilliam.  Letter  of  II.  H.  Spalding,  from  Clear 
Water,  Dec.  10th,  1847,  to  the  Bishop  of  Walla 
Walla.  Meeting  of  the  chiefs  at  the  Bishop's  house, 
and  their  manifesto.  Arrival  of  chief  factor  Ogden, 
and  redemption  of  the  captives.  The  Bishojo  at  the 
Dalles,  en  route  for  Umatilla. 

5.  Summary  of  the  principal  accusations  made  by 
Mr.  Sj)alding  against  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Walla 
Walla,  with  an  answer  to  each  of  tliein. 

But  this  was  not  the  end  of  the  trouble;  the  char- 
ges were  renewed;  this  time  not  by  one  minister  on- 
ly, nor  presented  only  to  a  territorial  legislature  for 
action;  but  by  an  army  of  ministers,  and  presented 
by  them  for  action  to  the  highest  authority  in  the 
country,  the  Senate:  for  as  the  infamous  and  mali- 
cious charges  made  by  H.  H.  Spalding  against  the 
Catholic  clergy  of  Walla  Walla,  had  reached  the  va- 
rious Protestant  sects  of  Oregon  and  the  Eastern 
States,  and  were  believed  by  them  as  gospel   truths; 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH  m      OREGON.         175 

and  whereas,  liostile  to  oacli  other  in  principles,  they 
are  always  ready  to  join  together  in  an  assault  on 
the  old  mother  church,  they  availed  themselves  of  a 
chance  of  showing  their  hatred  to  her,  22  years  after 
the  massacre,  on  the  following  occasion. 

In  1857,  a  special  agent  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment, J.  Ross  Browne,  was  sent  to  the  far  West,  to 
make  a  rej)ort  on  the  condition  of  the  aborigines,  and 
the  potent  causes  of  war  between  them  and  the 
white  settlers.  On  finding  that  Father  Brouillet's 
pamphlet  was  an  important  document  on  the  subject 
he  embodied  it  in  his  report,  which  the  U.  S.  con- 
gress published  as  Executive  Document  No.  38,  1859. 
The  fact  remained  unnoticed  for  ten  years,  till  on  a 
sudden,  during  the  year  1869,  it  drew  the  attentio  n 
of  '^even  Protestant  associations,  or  sects  in  Oregon, 
and  three  in  the  Eastern  States;  and  greatly  aroused 
their  ire,  because  ''It  severely  reflected  upon  the  de- 
voted missionaries  of  the  American  board."  Hence, 
the  many  resolutions  of  each  sect,  severely  blaming 
the  action  of  the  Senate,  calling  Father  Brouillette's 
pamphlet,  ''a  libel  on  Oregon's  history,  and  a  gross 
and  malicious  calumny,"  endorsing  the  most  infa- 
mous charges  of  H.  H.  Spalding  and  ascertaining 
them,  as  if,  after  a  lapse  of  22  years,  and  so  far 
from  the  spot,  they  had  been  eye  witnesses,  and 
had  seen  and  heard  all;  whereas.  Col.  Gilliam, 
his  soldiers,  and  the  volunteers,  on  the  spot 
two  months  after  the  massacre,  becoming  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  facts,  had  exonerated  the  Bishop 
and  his  clergy  from  all  blame:  which  the  legislature 
did  also  in  Dec.  1848,  by  rejecting  the   petition,    re- 


176  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

peating  the  charges  and  demanding  the  expulsion  of 
the  priests  from  the  Indian  country".  The  action  of 
these  ten  Protestant  sects  having  been  embodied  in 
a  pamphlet  of  81  pages,  the  same  was  passed  by  Mr. 
Spalding  to  Mr.  A.  B.  Meacham,  Supt.  Indian  affairs 
in  Oregon,  and  passed  by  him  to  Mr.  Delano,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior,  who  presented  it  to  the  Senate  on 
Feb.  8,  1871,  and  is  known  as  Executive  Document 
1^0.  37, 1871, 

This  executive  document  No.  37,  1871,  was  ably 
answered  and  victoriously  refuted  in  1872,  by  Father 
Brouillet,  raid  the  Catholic  world:  by  the  first  in  a 
pamphlet  of  18  pages  in  double  column,  which  the 
Catholic  S:':NriNEL  reproduced  in  July  and  August, 
1872;  and  wherein  he  declares  unreliable,  and  mali- 
<iious  the  evidences  of  the  ten  churches,  and  proves 
that  point  of  evidence  under  the  following  heads: 
1,  Falsification  of  official  rej)orts;  2,  falsification  of 
depositions;  3,  falsification  of  quotations;  4,  falsity 
of  statements;  by  the  second  in  an  article  of  18 
pages  in.  double  column,  to  be  found  in  the  magazine 
of  February,  1872;  wherein  it  says  of  the  executive 
document  No.  37,  1871:  ''We  have  had  recently 
placed  before  us  an  official  document  printed  at 
the  public  expense  for  the  edification  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  and,  no  doubt,  Mddely  circulated 
throughout  the  union  under  the  convenient  frank  of 
many  pious  members  of  Congress,  in  which  are  re- 
produced calumnies  so  gross,  and  falsehoods  so 
glaring,  that  we  consider  it  our  duty  not  only  to  call 
public  attention  to  it,  but  demand  from  our  rulers  at 
Washington  by  what  right  and  authority  tlie}^  print 


CATHOLIC       (niUilCH       IN       OREGON.  177 

and  circulate,  under  official  form,  a  tissue  of  falsifi- 
cations, misrepresentations,  and  even  forgeries, 
against  the  religion  and  the  ministers  of  that  religion 
which  is  professed  by  five  or  six  millions  of  free 
American  citizens." 

We  give  here  below  as  a  curiosity  the  strange 
names  of  the  ten  churches  or  associations  mentioned, 
above,  viz: — 

The  Oregon  presbytery  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
church;  the  Oregon  presbytery  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  church;  the  Oregon  presbytery  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  church;  the  Congregational 
Association  of  Oregon;  the  Oregon  annual  conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church;  the  Pleasant  Bute 
Baptist  church  of  Oregon;  the  Christian  brotherhood 
of  the  State  of  Oregon;  the  Steuben  presbytery  of 
the  Presbyterian  church,  New  York;  the  citizens  of 
Steuben,  Alleghaney  and  Chemung  counties,  Kew 
York;  the  citizens  of  Oberlin,  Ohio. 

Of  these  associations  and  hundreds  of  self-estaijr- . 
lished  churches,  which  obstinately  and  so  constantly 
fight  against  the  old  mother  Church  of  Christ,  we 
would  say:  if  these  Y*^ould  allow  to  God  as  much  wis- 
dom and  sense  as  to  a  man  willing  to  build  a  high 
fabric,  they  would  understand  that  He  who  made  the 
heavens  and  earth  so  perfect  and  so  lasting  for  the 
sole  enjoyment  of  man,  must  have  made  most  perfect 
and  lasting,  that  is,  infallible,  his  church  made  for  a 
higher  object,  the  salvation  of  souls  so  dear  to  Him. 
Therefore,  no  need  of  the  so-called  Reforma- 
tion; therefore  the  teaching  of  that  ark  is  the  sin. 
of  Oza;  i!:  bring.,  death  and  damnation. 


178  SKETCHES       OF       T3HE 

An  Indian  understands  that  at  once,  made  tangible 
to  him  on  the  Catholic  I-adder. 


Chronological  Notes. 

1847.  Rev.  P.  McCormick  takes  charge  Oregon 
City,  Sept.  6;  and  Rev.  B.  Delorme  of  St.  Louis, 
French  Prairie,  on  Nov.  3.  The  news  of  Dr.  Whit- 
man's murder  reaches  Oregon  City  on  Dec.  8,  and  is 
communicated  to  the  legislature  the  following  day. 

1848.  The  Bishop  of  Walla  Walla  arrives  at  St. 
Paul  on  Jan.  15.  Mission  of  Rev.  V.  E.  Deleveau 
to  Fort  Vancouver,  Feb.  1.  The  archbishop  confirms 
23  persons  at  Oregon  City,  Feb.  13th.  The  three 
bishops  availing  themselves  ot  the  chance  of  their 
reunion  at  St.  Paul  with  a  large  number  of  clergy- 
men, hold  the  first  provincial  council  of  Oregon  City, 
in  that  church,  in  Feb.  28,  29,  and  March  1,  in  w^hich 
regulations  for  discipline,  and  16  decrees  were  made 
which  received  later  the  approbation  of  the  Holy  See. 
On  March  12,  Bishop  Demers  leaves  Fort  Vancouver 
with  the  Spring  Express,  for  Walla  Walla,  Colville 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  en  route  for  Canada  and 
Europe,  in  order  to  raise  funds,  and  look  for  mission- 
aries for  his  Diocese.  On  May  4th,  1852,  he  was  at 
Oregon  City,  en  route  for  Victoria,  wdiile  the  arch- 
bishop was  assisting  at  the  I  Plenary  Council  at  Bal- 
timore. Rev.  J.  F.  Jayol  is  sent  to  Cowlitz,  for  the 
Nesqualy  Mission,  March  19.  The  Bishop  of  Walla 
Walla  celebrates  pontifically  at  St;  Paul,  on  Easter 
Sunday,  April  23.  Mission  of  Rev.  F.  Veyret  to  the 
Sound,  May  8.     Bishop  of  Walla  Walla  leaves    Van- 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON.         17*J' 

couver,  June  4,  for  his  mission  of  Umatilla;  arrived 
at  the  Dalles,  being  forbidden  by  the  Supt.  Indian 
Affairs  to  go  further,  he  establishes  the  Dalles  mis- 
sion of  St.- Peter.  On  Aug.  23,  Admission  of  the 
Fathers  O.  M.  I.,  by  the  Archbishox:>,  in  the  district  of 
Nesqualy,  to  attend  the  Indians  of  the  Sound,  they 
estabiished  their  mother  house  a  mile  from  Olympia 
and  from  thence  Tisited  the  Indiaus  of  the  Bay. 

On  Sept.  12,  four  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  ar-- 
rive  at  Oregon  City  for  a  residence.  They  oc- 
cupy the  presbj^tery,  and  open  their  school  on  the 
15.  Rev.  J.  Lionet,  and  Father  Lampfrit,  O.  M.  I, 
arrive  over  the  plains  in  October.  The  archbishop 
leaves  St.  Paul  for  his  residence  at  Oregon  City,  on 
Dec.  21.  He  passes  a  month  at  Mr.  McKinley's, 
and  rents  a  house  from  Mr.  Pomeroy  for  the  rest  of 
the  winter.  Rev.  J.  Lionet  is  sent,  Dec.  28,  to  es- 
tablish a  mission  at  Astoria;  instead  of  that  he  estab- 
lished it  on  the  other  side  of  the  Columbia,  on  a  land 
which  he  cultivates. 

The  admission  of  the  Oblate  Fathers,in  the  district 
of  Nesqualy,  Aug.  23,  1848,  having  for  object  the 
care  of  the  Indians  on  the  Sound,  Rev.  Father  Vey- 
res  was  recalled  from  the  Bay  and  put  in  charge  of 
St.  Paul's  in  the  beginning  of  September,  same  year. 

1849.  Rev.  A,  Langlois  leaves  Oregon  for  Cali- 
fornia, in  January.  Gen.  Lane,  first  governor  of  the 
Territory,  arrives  at  Oregon  City,  on  March  9th, 
Same  day.  Father  Lampfrit  is  sent  to  Victoria 
during  the  absence  of  Bishop  Demers.  A  large  bri- 
gade composed  of  families  of  St.  Pa,ul,  St.  Louis  and 
Vancouver,  starts  on  May  19,  with  Rev.  B.  Delorme<>. 


180  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

for  the  California  mines,  discovered  in  1848.  Arri- 
ved on  the  spot,  a  burning  fever  decimate  them;  40 
are  carried  away  by  the  epidemic,  viz;  20  heads  of 
families,  13  single  men  and  boys,  4  women  and  some 
children.  Father  Delorme  exhausted  with  fatigue, 
is  also  seized  by  the  fever  and  barely  escapes  the 
danger. 

St.  Joseph  College,  St.  Paul,  is  closed  in  June,  in 
consequence  of  the  California  mines.  On  Saturday, 
June  9th,  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  of  Oregon 
City,  enter  their  new  large  house,  built  on  a  block 
given  them  by  Dr.  McLaughlin.  On  the  following 
day,  the  archbishop  blesses  it  and  celebrates  the  first 
mass  in  its  chapel.  Deacon  G.  Leclaire  is  raised  to 
the  priesthood,  Oct.  21.  Rev.  B.  Delorme  returns 
from  California  by  sea,  and* arrives  Dec.  2G.  A  pick- 
et of  soldiers,  under  the  command  of  Col.  Backentos, 
passes  the  winter  at  Oregon  City.  Mrs.  Backentos  be- 
comes a  convert  to  the  faith  and  is  baptized  with  all 
her  children  by  the  archbishop. 

1850.  The  murder  of  Dr.  Whitman  and  others 
had  brought  war  against  the  Cayuse  tribe.  It  lasted 
two  years,  (1848  and  1849)  without  catching  one  of 
the  murderers.  And  while  it  caused  the  fall  of  the 
Presbyterian  missions,  it  had  the  effect  of  increasing 
those  of  the  Catholics  by  the  establishment  of  St. 
Peter's  at  the  Dalles,  and  converting  five  suj)posed 
Cayuse  murderers  from  Presbyterianism  to  Catholic- 
ism. For  the  civil  authorities  absolutely  requiring 
the  extradition  of  the  murderers,  the  Cayuse  chiefs 
found  at  last  fiYe  men  who  consented  to  go  down, 
not  as  guilty,  but  to  have  a  talk  with  the  whites    and 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREaON.         181 

explain  all  about  the  murderers,  ten  in  number,  who 
were  no  more,  and  who  had  been  killed  by  the  whites, 
the  Cayuses  and  were  all  dead.  Sent  by  the  chief s'on 
this  message,  they  expected  to  return  home:  they 
\i  ere  delivered  to  Gov.  Lane  early  in  the  spring, 
broilght  down  to  Oregon  City  and  kept  as  prisoners. 
Their  trial  took  place,  * 'Notwithstanding  the  priso- 
ners were  pre-doomed  to  death,"  says  the  ''River  of 
the  West";  therefore  it  was  a  sham  trial  which 
deeived  no  one;  and  they  were  sentenced, 
May  27,  to  be  hung.  The  execution  took  place  on 
June  3,  at  2  p.  m.,  before  an  immense  crowd.  On 
hearing  their  sentence,  their  thoughts  were  to  save 
their  souls,  and  call  for  the  priest.  The  archbishop 
went  to  see  them  without  delay,  and  continued  to  go 
twice  a  day  to  teach  them  and  prepare  them  for  bap- 
tism and  death.  The  minister  Spalding  went  early 
to  see  them,  but  they  refused  to  hear  him  and  pray 
with  him.  Such  were  the  fruits  of  the  eleven  years 
of  the  doctor's  teaching.  They  call  the  priest:  had 
the  priests  counseled  them  to  murder  the  Doctor,  it 
vv^ould  have  been  to  assail  them  with  reproaches. 

On  the  eve  of  their  death,  the  old  chief  Kilo  Kite 
and  his  four  companions  made  a  declaration  in  da- 
plicate,  before  Henry  H.  Crawford,  sergeant,  Co.  D., 
R.  M.  R.,  and  Robert  D.  Mahon,  corporal,  Co.  A., 
R.  M.  R.,  declaring;  the  first  that  he  was  opposed, 
his  two  sons  took  part,  and  were  killed;  the  second 
that  he  was  absent,  and  came  the  day  after;  the  third 
that  he  saw  the  deed,  did  not  participate  and  was 
sorry;  the  fourth  and  fifth,  that  they  are  innocent 
and  die  for  nothing:  all  declaring  the   priests   never 


Ig2  SKETCHES       OF       THE 

.counseled  the  crime  (see  Catholic  SentiJiel^  April   20, 
and  27, 1872,  for  full  account.)     On  the  forenoon   of 
June  3,  new  questions  were  made,  to  the  same  effect. 
On  that  day  they  heard  a  low  mass   after  which  they 
received  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  confirmation. 
At  2  p.  m.,  the  archbishop  assisted  by   the   Rev,  -  F. 
^eyret,  now  a  Jesuit,  accompanied  them  to  the  scaf- 
fold,-where  the  prayers  for  the   dying  were   recited. 
Touching  words  of  encouragement  were  addressed  to 
them  on  the  moment  of  being   swung  into   the   air: 
'^Onward,  onward  to  heaven  children :  into  thy  hands 
O  Lord  Jesus,  I  commend  my   spirit.''     There   is   a 
,shameful  omission  to  be  found  in  the    ''River   of  the 
"West,'*  as  to  how  they  died;  Presbyterians,  infidels, 
.or  Catholics.     A  shameful  and  false  charge  is   found 
there  also,  against  the  youngest  of  the  five,  of  having 
been  cruel  to  Jos.  Meek's  little  girl  at  the  time  of  the 
massacre,  which  is  as   true   as   the  ridiculous   story 
made  by  the   marshal  himself,  saying:  ''One  of  them 
on   the   scaffold,   begged   me   to   kill  him   with   my 
knife."     A  calumnious  falsehood!  the   truth   is   that 
the  old  chief  Kila  Kite   proudly  refused   to   let  his 
hands  be   tied.     But   upon    the   archbishop  showing 
him  the  crucifix,  he  became  resigned  and  kept  silence. 
That  is  one  of  the  many  inaccuracies  to  be   found   in 
the  ''River  of   the  West."     The   following  fact,    so 
honorable  to  the  citizens  of  Oregon  City  and  all  w^ho 
joined  with  them,  should  not   be    omitted;    that   on 
heari'ng  of  the  innocence  of  the  five  Cayuse  prisoners 
they  began  to  circulate  a  petition  to  get  them  a   res- 
pite, their  sympathies  increased  much  more  on  learn- 
ing their  declaration;  but,  the  governor  being  absent, 
there  was  no  one  to  sign  it. 


CATHOLIC   CHURCH   IN   OREGON. 


183^ 


Rev.  T.  Mesplie  was  ordained  a  priest  on  May  25.- 
In  answer  to  the  request  of  the  bishops  assembled 
in  council,  at  St.  Paul's  in  1848,  there  arrived  from 
Eome,  on  Sept.  29,  briefs  bearing  the  date  of  May 
31,  to  the  effect  of  creating  the  district  of  Nesqualy 
into  a  diocese,  and  transferring  the  bishop  of  Walla 
Walla  to  that  see;  and  suppressing  the  diocese  of 
Walla  Walla  and  passing  its  administration  and 
those  of  the  districts  of  Colville  and  Fort  Hall  to  the 
archbishop,  in  consequence  of  which  the  Bishop  of 
Nesqualy  leaves  the  Dalles,  visits  St.  Francis  Xavier 
mission  of  Cowlitz,,  and  on  Oct.  27,  fixes  his  residence 
at  Fort  Vancouver. 

Having  thus,  brought  our  history  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  Oregon  down  to  the  present  establishment 
of  the  three  sees  of  Oregon  City,  Nesqualy,  and  Van- 
couver Island,  we  close  our  sketches. 


OF  TBlB 

TJHITERSITY 


14  DAY  USE 

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